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

Heading back to Hesso's mansion, Misha couldn't help but fall into a bit of a daze. The closer she got there, the more she felt that this new 'mission' was real.

She raised her palms, staring at it for a while as she felt her ability seep through a bit. It seemed weak and powerless, but it had allowed her to survive and retain her dignity after so long.

Her ability was related to her love of scents.

Misha had always loved flowers growing up.

She had always found them so beautiful and graceful, yet strong and resilient. It was a mirror to the type of lady she wanted to be.

This was what she needed to be considering she had to survive in high society as well as the adjusting operations of her family, who had once operated in the underground sector.

She had known her family's dark history—of course, she would—and she also knew of its attempt to clean up. In that aspect, she and her mother were pivotal.

At the thought of her mother, her eyes became glossy. However, she pushed it aside for now, knowing she didn't have the luxury of being relaxed enough to mourn.

She and her mother would attend galas and charities, they would donate their own money, and do a lot of volunteer work.

They also hosted various parties for powerful people, befriending the wives and the daughters, making sure the men in their family were straightening up well and had backing regardless of what field they chose.

For example, Micheal's sharp rise in society was due to his brilliance, but also because of the connections they created.

Back in Terran, she and her mother had a large garden where they took care of themselves. They had a gorgeous terrarium that various rich ladies envied.

Misha particularly liked the flowers with scents, and she even started her own perfume brand which had done very, very, well.

At 31 years old, she became one of the top women in high society in their city, and her company was sought after by high-quality men.

Her lovers (one at a time, of course) were all attractive and well-off bachelors. Those never quite worked out as well as she had hoped, but she was also happy just getting rich on her own.

Then the Disaster came and she lost everything—not to mention the money she hoarded, but she also lost her family. Her father had transformed from the start, taking her mother with him. Her brother was far away, and then she was alone.

However, Misha was never a weak woman. She had been aware of how the world worked very early on as well, so even before the migration, she already covered herself up well.

She survived on her own using the self-defense skills taught to her as a child, leveling up faster than the men.

She adapted well. If in Terran, money did the talking—and was therefore the target of her endeavors—here, it was power. That was what she tried to hone.

She was one of the first to awaken in her village, and it was still a mutation. At first, because it was not aggressive, it disappointed her a lot. However, she was a smart woman who knew how to deal with the cards handed to her and it didn't take long for her to adjust to it.

Her ability had an interesting mutation and did not have much of a solid form.

Hers… was a mutated wood element, which seemed to have turned her own body into a type of plant that emanated certain scents.

This scent was not quite a drug, but it was attractive. It also 'softened' the brain, making it easy to make suggestions. If she were to make a theory, her scent affected the prefrontal cortex, responsible for cognitive thinking.

After a couple months of use, she had more or less had a feel of it, and she knew how much scent to give out to get what she needed.

Speaking of which, prolonged exposure would also help in its efficiency. This was fortunate because if people had built an immunity to it, then she'd have been raped ages ago.

She had managed to use her ability in order to brainwash the men into their fantasies. Whenever these twisted men wanted to take her 'in public' she'd find a way to convince them otherwise.

Similarly, in a private setting, they would believe she had done the deed with her when in reality she might not even be in the room.

…

She arrived at Hesso's villa after a couple of minutes of leisure walk. She was led to his room, with servants waiting right outside.

Because she was the favorite, the servants were respectful to her, too.

He was already naked in the tub, and he brightened at the sight of her. "Misha! You're finally here!"

Misha frowned at how unsightly he was, but her face did not show anything. Her lack of emotion excited Hesso a lot, and her many expressions in his dream was one of the more effective illusions.

She sat down at the rim of the tub, holding the man's ugly face. "Master… did you miss Misha?" she asked, the scent emanating from her.

Her persuasion ability hadn't gotten to the point that she could ask them to do what they normally would not, nor would she risk the immersion by asking for too much. However, it was enough for her to manipulate information to a certain degree, whether it was to input some or extract them.

"Then… Misha will bathe with you," she said, and stood up. The man's face started becoming dreamy as he stared at the blank air in front of him. "Misha is naked now… do you like what you see?" she asked as she walked behind him.

The man looked forward, seeing something more than just the steam from his bath and the wooden wall of his bathroom. "So beautiful, so beautiful…" he said.

Of course, in order to facilitate this, he really did see her naked, though they didn't go all the way.

"Well… before I enter the tub," she paused. "Can you tell Misha… what do you think of Valov?"