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

Some of them didn't even know the kids could access their spaces already.

She blinked and looked at what they were holding. They were a handful of flowers from her garden. Amusingly, when Meatball saw that Pepper had more, he puffed his cheek and brought out another one from his space.

They were giving her flowers. They might've seen Garan give her a bouquet before, particularly during mass wedding days, wherein the bouquet was commonly found everywhere, with many shops capitalizing on the events.

One difference in the capitalist Terran practice was that, in Alterra, the usual flowers chosen in bouquets were ones with literal calming effects. The flowers here were also healthier and could be used in teas and scents.

This made the practice much more meaningful, as if the givers were blessing the receivers with health and wellness.

"Aww…. my babies…" she laughed, leaning down to kiss their chubby cheeks, even if they were a bit dirty.

"I will take these, thank you," she said, placing the flowers in her space. "But don't take any more without permission, okay?

She was afraid they'd make it into a habit. Many of those flower fields were her experimental fields, after all. She'd prefer it if they didn't go bald every day.

Anyway, after Harold and the others left, Althea carried her babies to the bath. She didn't allow her husband to join though. He was still in heat and it would make him suffer more to bathe with them.

After this, the husband and wife prepared them for bed, putting their diapers and putting them in their onesies.

Pepper yawned, making a cute little o with her mouth. Yawning seemed to be contagious and Meatball also yawned. Unexpectedly, Garan took both babies in his arms.

"I'll put them to bed," he said, looking very serious.

When he came back, he went straight to bed and immediately continued where they left off.

…

Garan's libido was really a stuff for legends. Fortunately, at their levels, they only needed a few hours of sleep to be refreshed for a whole day.

Althea, who 'overslept' for a full six hours, was planning to go to the Research Center after a nice breakfast with her family.

"Peppah… hungweee" Little Pepper mumbled, opening her mouth and creating a cute little 'o'. Althea smiled and fed her before turning to Meatball, who was already munching on something, as he always seemed to do.

He quickly consumed it though so now he was tapping his small table with those tiny hands. "Mewball… Mewball!"

"Yes, yes…"

This time, the food was soft and chewy, and they could see his little teeth when he opened his mouth wide.

His cheeks were puffed up as he chewed, though some drool escaped and had to be wiped.

"Sigh, my babies are so cute…" she mumbled, leaning down to give them smooches.

Her husband too, by habit.

She giggled when the kids asked for more.

Maybe their kisses would bring her luck today.

…

It had been a few weeks since Hoffen and the Golds arrived at Alterra. She hadn't missed a day in trying to make progress in her new skill.

To focus her efforts, she had been focusing on using materials known for their healing properties, as well as the elements associated with it: Wood and Water, which she both had.

However, it was really a difficult thing to learn and apply the skill even if she had officially awakened it. It was not a high-difficulty skill for nothing.

She could control her element well, yes, but combining them with her own abilities without the use of external force was beyond her for a while.

She also understood how each material had their own affinities, and all of which she must understand well. They didn't appear when she used her assessment skill, so she had to figure out an item's affinity on her own.

Eventually, they found that the success rate had a lot to do with understanding the items at the molecular level.

She could look at them through the microscope—which, according to Hoffen, saved her years of effort—but to be able to feel them intrinsically was also another issue.

The elements in the object were very hard to detect. They were meshed with their very fiber, particularly those that weren't so obvious like normal objects because they had some degree of equilibrium.

She also had to determine and break those bonds, and determine which ones to combine.

She basically had to manipulate the very fiber of an object. However, their powers wasn't controlling atoms or stuff like that, it was manipulating the Classical Elements.

There were definitely some discrepancies in what she had grown up to know, and there would be times she had to force herself to forget about her formal training in science and focus on the magic. It was quite confusing.

She had been stuck with the amalgamation for many days and that day she really did make a breakthrough.

It happened when she finally understood the key: Balance.

Coming up with the solution was different from actually succeeding with it, of course.

She had to master how to keep things in equilibrium even when they were 'floating' and not connected to each other, as if it were she who was filling in the bonds that had to be created.

With 'her' in the middle she could then combine different elements and structures together, creating a new substance altogether.

She felt the elements that could help with regeneration in the ingredients as well as in the elements. For hours at a time, she did her best to connect them, to maintain the balance that she needed.

She did not even notice the time, nor did she notice the few people who would peek in her laboratory, checking if she was alright. Fortunately, they knew her well enough when not to disturb her, and this was definitely one of those times.

Althea worked relentlessly for hours after that, until—

[Created! Goldleaf Elixir (A). Increases the healing regeneration rate by 300% for 10 minutes. Has maximum efficiency for Level 40 individuals and below.]

She blinked. Oh?