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

The potion looked like a liquid jewel. It was beautiful.

The best part was that she used materials that were not exceedingly rare. Rather, plants that were already being nurtured within the territory walls. They were the usual ingredients to her health potions, with raw materials already having dedicated farms in the territory, and the main difference was that she integrated some wood and water elements in.

The challenge was that she had to use, what, an entire day to create one bottle.

Not to mention how much mana and spirit it took, the productivity was too low, especially when she—except for the past day or two due to her imminent breakthrough—had dedicated only a portion of a day for pharmacy work.

She had to balance out time with her children, her husband, her friends, her own strength, her array studies, and administrative work. She had to find a way to produce this with a fraction of the time.

That said, she was not able to study anymore because it seemed like someone was monitoring her progress and Garan appeared shortly after she had completed her potion.

"It's time to eat and rest now," he said with a straight face, before lifting her up and carrying her back home under the sight of, well, everyone.

Althea sighed, burying her head on his wide shoulder.

She was brainwashing herself with a thought: If she couldn't see them, they couldn't see her.

…

The next day, she found her master staring at the potion with sparkling eyes. As soon as she entered the threshold, he then whipped his head to look at her like a kid.

"You really did it!!" he yelled, hugging her like the proud grandpa that he was. His cuteness made Althea giggle. "Thanks, Master. Sadly, I think this will be the first and last in a while…" she said.

Hoffen shrugged. "That's fine, you can get used to making easier potions first!" She could master the use of the skill first and foremost, before jumping to the difficult applications.

"I will watch you," he said, forgetting his own research and decided to accompany her for the next couple of days.

At this time, he was working on a new poison made from bloodshade thorn, which was a poison plant found in the desert. One of the major items that distant places like Dune Town could trade them with, other than petroleum, were plants.

It so happened that there was a poison plant there that was said to be able to kill even level 30 monsters—and able to paralyze the undead. The Lord was eager to send them huge amounts of the plant (safely, of course) to ask them for an antidote.

Years ago, because it was a way to neutralize the undead, they had been trying to utilize it, but many people got poisoned while using it, so the practice couldn't be maintained long-term.

Now that they actually knew people who could do something about it, how could they miss the chance?

And so, a capable pharmacist team was assigned to develop the antidote, while Hoffen took the liberty to start his own project by creating lethal poisons with the plant. Fortunately, he did often joined and guided the antidote team, expediting their process instead of leaving them on their own, as he would've done if he were elsewhere.

There was another poison plant they found called the firegnarl. This plant was found near the orc territory.

They bought it in Ferrol market, apparently, but somehow they managed to grow it here! It must not have been easy because the terrain and nutrients in that region were more than a bit different than here!

His apprentice was a talented potion maker, but also the best plant expert he had ever encountered!

If Althea didn't stop him, he'd have asked her to teach him about plants and called her Master.

Anyway, Hoffen's project was combining these two poisons to create one that could affect people beyond level 40. As someone from the city, Hoffen was aware of the level differences between Alterra and those places.

He and the Golds were here and could be targeted, and Alterra could also be targeted because it damaged a lot of interests with its plethora of products.

Even if there were strict rules, cities hundreds of years old naturally had deeper knowledge of the rules and therefore their loopholes. He had to create as many weapons for Alterra to protect itself in that event.

Anyway, he temporarily pushed this aside and listened closely as Althea explained how she made the power work, which had a lot to do with processes the naked eye could not see. He already knew, to some degree, about everything being built of incredibly tiny things.

It was almost impossible to truly master this skill without this knowledge. So to speak, Althea had everything it took to be able to truly utilize this skill. It was probably fated.

With this type of perception, she could see the paths she had to control. It wasn't automatic and would still need a lot of thought and control, however.

She had also seen how not only her mana, but also her spirit decreased whenever she used the [Elemental Integration] skill, so she had to really balance things out if she wanted to be productive.

That said, with the skill, it was infinitely easier to combine things that were not supposed to mix. It was manipulating nature, but with the skill, it was like having training wheels on a bike.

She took some Stoneleaf Fern and Rootspire Lichen with her, both of which were earth and wood attribute plants they got from New Shrao Village. Rather, from the Old Shrao Village.

After all, the Lord of the two villages could travel through warehouses, and he brought them quite a few plants from far west to trade.

The Stoneleaf fern was a broad, stiff-leaved plant found in rocky places. Old Shrao was located on top of a hill and was easily defensible, which was how it lasted so long while it was so near Voumi Town and encountered several town-level monsters every couple of days.

Its known effects had been to dull pain and slightly increase bone density after long-term consumption.

On the other hand, the Rootspire lichen was a pale lichen that climbed vertically along trees or stones. It could apparently increase stamina and increased cellular repair. Althea knew it was ideal for fusion with earth-type potions.

Both of these plants were already being nurtured and planted in the experimental farms. The progress was good, so this meant they would have plenty in Alterra soon, and therefore it would be worth spending effort to create potions with it.

She could see which elements the plants had now, even if subtle, and she summoned the earth element around her to integrate with the solution she created with them.

The research lab had a lot of indoor plants and even a small garden, which was designed so she could have access to more wood and earth energy as needed.

Condensing the earth elements, she combined it with the solution she made. She pushed molecules that were not supposed to mix together, combined the aether and the magic into them, creating different structures and functions. This time, it only took a little over two hours.

[Created! Earth Core Elixir (B). Increases defense and constitution by 30% for 1 hour. Effective for Level 30s and below.]