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

”A-Aether crystals?”

”The one I’ve been hearing about?”

Those who had never touched or seen an aether crystal had to double-take, wondering if they overheard. Those who were aware of it, on the other hand, like Hoffen, saw the little crystal on Althea’s dainty palm.

He shot up from his seat and looked at the couple with sparkling eyes. ”How many did you get?”

Althea giggled, then observed at the Golds and Hoffen, who nodded. ”Enough for our group, and several elites, to level up a few times.”

”How many?”

The couple immediately took them out, and people were bedazzled by the shimmering iridescent crystals of exactly the same size.

These things would always come in the same size and same appearance, much like how bubbles would always be a sphere no matter what shape of the bubble ring.

The energy inside would also be identical. Basically, a crystal wouldn’t form until a certain amount of aether was condensed and would also not condense anymore after reaching a certain threshold.

This made things convenient whenever they were distributed, too. They could completely focus on quantity.

The group looked at the small hill of crystals, their eyes reflecting their shimmer. More than just its beauty, each one hummed with an aura instinctively attractive to them.

After a few minutes, the group counted 232 pieces!

The two of them actually got 232 crystals!

This amount could only be found in untouched upper-level Aether crystal mines!

Aether crystal mines were extremely rare, and in the long history of civilization, there were only a dozen or so ever found, and some of them only had a bit over 300 harvests.

Cities also passively produced aether crystals, but there would only be a dozen or so produced annually. Even massive territories like Holt City might not have more than 20-30 condensing every year.

Of course, some cities could very well be underreporting their actual output, but it still shouldn’t go over two times of that number.

Further, most territories wouldn’t underreport, at least not too much, because declaring a large amount of crystals available also increased a territory’s prestige and attracted superior talent to work for them. It was also seen as an indicator of stability and long-term wealth.

Other than the mines, cities with strong vitality not only attracted monsters, but aether as well.

It was very much like how gravity worked—the heavier the mass, the larger the weight, and the more it would bend space to passively attract more mass to it.

Hence, after a certain saturation was reached—and this was historically observed when a territory upgraded to a City—the territory would start to condense its own crystals somewhere in its soil.

This would be used by locals to increase their levels, further attracting more aether. It was a virtuous cycle.

It was also why a city would generally never hand over a single piece of crystal to outsiders. It was just too counterintuitive to them. It was akin to taking a piece of a person’s bone marrow and then giving it to a stranger.

”We can’t waste these!”

”Yes, these are extremely useful to us, but they are ultimately a rare consumable,” Althea said. ”We’ll get the experts to teach us how to do it, so please clear your schedules tomorrow. We will allocate them accordingly.”

During the previous night, Althea and Garan had already decided on the allocation of the aether crystals.

To maximize what they had, only those above level 25 were allowed to use them. Otherwise, the new ’grinding spot’ a.k.a. The Undead area wouldn’t be as useful anymore, and that would’ve been a waste.

What were the chances they’d find something like that for level 30s? It was almost impossible, actually.

It was why most people who could reach level 40 had definitely used aether crystals quite a few times to reach that level, though how they retrieved them varied a lot.

They also decided to keep fifty in the Warehouse. Althea and Garan would take fifty each into their space and use one tonight. Most could absorb a crystal for several days, and the couple would have to see how long it would take them.

They received some tips from the Golds, and they learned that they simply had to absorb it like how they meditated. Aether Crystals were literally just condensed aether, and ’eating’ it was comparable to shredding the whole ’meat’.

They also decided to give five to the core members of their team (which they could use or give to others), three to each Minister, and three to each of the soldiers who had arrived with Garan, but they must use them on themselves. The soldiers with Garan were all in the mid-level-20s now. Except for a few like Luis, who could still take advantage of the Undead grinding spot, the rest could use the crystals immediately.

The remainder would be given to Gill to use as rewards for the most outstanding people. For example, there would be performance evaluations, and the person on top would receive a crystal, and so on.

Since there weren’t many crystals, they decided to do the contest annually, with the first one within the next few months. They would probably use 5 or 6 aether crystals per year as rewards.

The preliminary rewards would be to give three crystals to the top 1, two to the top 2, and one to the top 3. They’d likely limit the applications to the guards and the local mercenaries. These were such precious things. Their own people naturally had the priority for them.

In the barracks, there were a few contests even before, though it was mostly for promotion exams and the like. For example, those who had been recommended for promotion had to defeat a certain number of guards.

This would train everyone, keep them on their toes, and it would make it easier for the new captains and team leads to handle the people underneath them.

Hopefully, this could assist their town to finally catch up with their peers in terms of level.

That had been their only shortcoming, and by the time this weakness was dealt with, then Alterra would truly be unshakeable at their tier.