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

He gulped and was silent the whole time. Without a word, he returned the leaf to study it further. Looking closer, he could also see clusters of tiny, rectangular things.

”Do you see the green rectangular things that seemed soft to touch?” she asked.

When he nodded, she continued to explain them to him. ”They are filled with green liquid we call chlorophyll. The small structures within these cells, called Chloroplasts, capture the sunlight, which then brings life to the plant!”

Hoffen was fascinated. He could watch the so-called ’microscopic’ entities dance within their confines all day. He also saw the tiny openings on the leaf’s surface—which was apparently the aforementioned ’stomata’—that seemed to pulse as they opened and closed.

”This is amazing…”

”Because we know more intricately what each plant was made of, we can better understand its functions and how we can use it.”

”For example,” she said, pointing at a few more samples. ”These compounds have been known to alleviate pain. If we extract and isolate these compounds, then we could create a medicine that would have that effect.”

Hoffen nodded, his brain turning, absorbing the massive amount of knowledge and possibilities that was attacking his mind.

How Xeno pharmacists worked on their products had a lot to do with the skills they awakened. For instance, they would gain the ability to combine two or three materials to create a desired effect.

Another instance was to gain skills that could extract known functions of a plant and isolate them to create the typical potion.

The limitation was that they would only be able to create and isolate what they knew and understood in-depth. For more experimental pharmacists like Hoffen, they had to go through countless experiments to check which materials would fit, which materials would have an effect, and so on.

Normally, they would receive the notification of them learning to do a potion, which was their indication that they finally got something right.

But… if they could find out more about each material with such detail, then a lot of steps could be skipped!

Why didn’t he go here earlier!?

…

In the next hour or so, Hoffen demanded to take a look at various other things. Whether it was plants, random items, or a prick of his own blood.

She showed how much bacteria there was in a drop of stagnant water. The wiggly things really disgusted him. She showed him how the antibacterial solutions worked, and he looked visibly relieved.

Speaking of bacteria in Xeno, they were actually much more potent than the ones in Terran. It was just that their physique transformed as they leveled up. If they didn’t, it was estimated that a lot of people would’ve already died due to infections ages ago.

They also found that these bacteria were the main reasons why perishable food and corpses degenarated faster outside of the territory lines. The difference inside the territory was that it had concentrated amounts of aether, which seemed to have some sort of special effect on everything.

She also told him how—using these tools—they could forgo several safety concerns and go directly to working products. After all, they could bypass a lot of required testing and assumptions by following set methodologies that had been tried and tested through generations of Terran scientists.

She also showed how certain medicines reacted to the blood—his blood, by the way.

He ended up being so passionate that his hand was filled with pricks to see the different effects.

”This can really revolutionize the practice as we know it!” he exclaimed, and she could swear the wrinkles on his face was reduced by one or two.

Then he smiled as he turned to her. He lifted his wrinkled hand and touched her shoulder.

”My apprentice, you seem to have been brought here to make huge changes to the world,” he said, with confidence in his eyes. ”I’m really excited to witness it all first hand.”

…

In the end, after much convincing, Hoffen was finally pulled away from the laboratory. She promised to give him his own laboratory, but only if he got a proper rest and saw the town first.

She had already contacted Oslo. He and his family were going around the Town, and she hoped they could take the old man with them for some much-needed distraction.

They finally headed out the building’s threshold, though she could see the old man turn occasionally as if parting away from his lover.

Althea’s lips twitched upward in amusement.

Interestingly, Gregor was outside the building, dutifully waiting for the Master. It had been the first time she saw a strong guard really act like one.

The Golds had guards, but they were only really working outside the territory. After all, there were so many rules in the Town that there was no need to. Of course, there was also the fact that they were already very strong themselves.

In Hoffen’s case, it seemed like Gregor was worried about other things. Althea didn’t find this surprising at all considering the Grandmaster’s propensity for chaos.

However, she’d argue the rumors were exaggerated. He was a very well-behaved old man. Those people must’ve spread false rumors to discredit him.

(If the noblemen whose skins were turned green or blue by Hoffen heard of this—they’d have aneurysms).

Althea watched the old man approach the ancient man, and she prepared to excuse herself, too. It was just that Gregor looked at her before whispering something to Hoffen, and she realized he must’ve been sent to a task.

Althea blinked when Hoffen flinched at whatever Gregor said, and the old Alchemist whipped his head in her direction. It was so fast that she worried his old bones would get broken by the movement.

This was the thought in her head as the grandmaster stomped to her with furrowed eyebrows. ”I heard we can only become permanent residents if we have enough contribution points? How do we get that?!”

Oh…

She blinked at this.

So... her master sent Gregor to register them for permanent residencies? Already? Before he even saw the alchemy wing?

Did her master trust her so much?

That said, should she just grant them permanent residencies right now?

She knew it wouldn’t be good practice to start making exemptions but… who’d be stupid to gatekeep a Class A pharmacist and a level 62 Wind elementalist?

Exemption it shall be!

Anyway, if people of their caliber could believe in Alterra enough that they’d forgo their residencies in a City, then she could definitely take that leap, too!