After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 363

Chapter 363: Level 9
During this time, the admiration and gratitude received by the soldiers and the aborigines who helped others level up was absolutely massive.

Every day, some citizen or guard would be treating them to a meal, giving out supplies, and sending groceries. They saved a lot of money with all the treats.

The citizens also loved feeding the soldiers. Most of the time, they also asked them about the elements, what their experiences were, and requested for some tips.

It was as if they already activated their elements by their questions.

The aborigines couldn’t bear to tell them that less than 10% of people could awaken elements. They could only smile awkwardly and make subtle hints along the way, trying to be as gentle as possible.

For example:

“You’re working hard, occupations should be within reach. It doesn’t matter if you become an Elementalist.” This was Gauis speaking.

“Yes, having an occupation is already amazing. Elementalists are overrated sometimes because of the mana issue…”

However, many citizens had bright eyes and optimistic faces, quickly shutting them down. “No, no. I already have names of my techniques: Wind blade, Tornado Lift, and Breeze Distraction.”

“…”

On the other hand, the soldiers had an inkling that everyone who survived to get here probably had the potential to be Elementalists, though they never said so out loud.

Anyway, this went on for a few more days, with each soldier gaining their own fanbases like the aborigines did (known as the Golden Girls for Oslo and the Fiery Squad for Rowan).

The Alterans watched in awe as fellow Terrans produced fireballs in their hands, throwing them into quick projectiles. They were accurate, hitting the monsters in critical places.

They whistled as fellow Terrans produced water whips that floated gracefully around them. Amazingly, they used such a gentle element to create serious damage to monsters who could eat their heads in a single bite.

They clapped as another soldier stomped his feet and tens of earth spikes emerged from the ground, skewering monsters in one shot, debilitating them for the others to kill.

And they gasped in awe as fellow Terrans swiped their hands and created small tornadoes. Someone even flew for a few seconds.

Anyway, it was all very inspiring.

After all, this meant there was a possibility they could do it as well when they reached level 10!

Many of these citizens and guards were victims of the stronger waves of monsters, each one lost a friend or loved one in these beasts’ jaws. Memory could get blurry, but the emotions of the moment were clear: They felt scared, hopeless, and extremely weak at the time.

To see them being handled so easily by brethren who arrived not too long before them—how could they not be fired up? How could they not want to take revenge by themselves?!

The very thought fired everyone up and the training got even more intense.

Day after day people trained. The average level of the territory shot up to level 5 that week. For soldiers, it was level 7.

Even Althea, who received solo assistance from her husband, became level 9 before the week ended.

She was currently going against a level 8 monster with reptilian skin and sharp claws. She was visibly much more relaxed now than when she handled a monster a lower level before.

This showed her exemplary growth at this time.

Garan had barely weakened the monster beforehand. Of course, he did send ice walls to guard her as needed, but in terms of damage to the monster, it was basically all Althea.

Althea narrowly avoided the monster’s sharp claws, rolling on the ground, and quickly regained her balance. She took advantage of its lagging movements due to its injuries and pulled out her improved katana, slicing the area under its neck—its weakness.

[Killed! Madara (Lv8): +220 Experience, +220 Copper]

Althea heaved a deep breath but remained alert and standing. Garan walked over, congratulating his wife for another clean kill—her tenth so far for the day—but her body was still tense, looking around for more enemies.

The man looked at her, “It’s time to rest.”

“No, one more,” she said, and there was no room for discussion.

Garan sighed, heartbroken.

But what could he do? He could only follow his wife’s wishes.

…

They stood on a mountain apex within the territory line after the training that day, setting up a picnic cloth while watching the sunset.

They prepared a lot of fruit, sandwiches, and the like.

They sat down, seemingly relaxed, and it was worth noting that Althea did not have a pint of blood on her even when they went straight from training. It could be seen that Garan protected her well.

Of course this didn’t mean that it wasn’t much of a training. On the contrary, it was quite effective.

The main focus of today’s training was how to handle the monsters directly—ideally maximizing their weak spots. Althea actually did more damage than just the last shot, which meant she also got more actual experience than most of the other guards.

The only reason she didn’t have bloody injuries was because Garan covered her with his ability when she was hit by monster attacks. It was estimated she still had a number of bruises from the impact.

So now they decided to have a picnic to reward her for a job well done. They set up at the apex of the still-undeveloped luxury community #2.

The homeowners would have access to a branch of the mountain spring. She’d find a way to create an outdoor hot spring, and turn this into a resort area.

They were having their picnic on a small plateau in this area. It was cleared of invasive trees (transferred somewhere else), leaving just enough cover for those relaxing, and the whole area was framed by beautiful canopy trees on the side. This area was planned to be a luxury view deck in the future.

Well, someday.

Its altitude was also high and the view of the territory was even better than the existing view deck.

Coupled with the reddish hue given by the resting sun, the view was absolutely gorgeous.

“Ouch!” She yelled as Garan gently wiped an ointment on one of the more visible bruises. She almost spat out the sandwich she was eating. “Bwe gentle!”

Garan chuckled at her childish look and took a second look. As she grew up, she naturally showed less of this. But in front of him, he could still see glimpses.

Of course, he was even gentler with his massages and he shifted to the bruise at the back of her arm. “Take off your jacket,” he said and she maneuvered herself so he could help her take her jacket with minimal pain.

Her eyelids twitched a bit but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to suddenly start acting like a baby as soon as her male lead appeared.

A few moments later, the gentle Garan successfully took off the leather cover leaving her wearing only a sleeveless top. He frowned when he saw the large bruise—as large as his palm—at the back of her arm.

The contrast between the bluish-green mark against her white skin hurt his eyes and pained his heart. Of course, while painful, he never stopped her from wanting to get stronger. It was for her own good, after all.

His hand was as gentle as it could be, massaging the bruises skillfully that Althea moaned a little.

The associations of the sound sent heat to his body and his eyes darkened a bit. If she wasn’t so full of bruises, it was estimated Garan had already touched her with perverted thoughts.

But the comfort of his wife was always above his own so he pushed back the desire.

All these tangents did not affect the gentleness of his massage at all.

Althea closed her eyes in relaxation, reviewing the fights of the day by habit.

However, she couldn’t help but think about how it was for her husband and his team back then. They didn’t have the luxury of the protection period, and they must’ve been thrown at such strong monsters from the get-go.

How much had he suffered?

She suddenly turned her body to face her husband, which surprised him. But he was shocked when he saw a line of tears in her eyes.

“Oh no… did I hurt you?” Garan said, obvious panic on his face. Althea’s heart warmed and she just sat on his leg and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her chin on his wide shoulder.

Garan, though puzzled, hugged her back, trying not to touch anything lest he hit a bruise.

“It must’ve been very dangerous, when you were thrown to this place all of a sudden.”

Garan finally knew what she was crying for and was relieved she wasn’t hurt. He gently wrapped his arms around her, though without any pressure, and placed his chin on the top of her soft head.

“The thought of returning to you kept me going,” he said and smiled. In response, Althea hugged him a little tighter to further feel his presence.

It was a wholesome moment that lasted for a while. It was just that the warm atmosphere was broken when Althea moved a little and… felt something hard poking at her leg.

“…”

“…”