[The Territory Training Hall has been upgraded! All guards will be given priority use for a period of 3 days!


    All permanent residents shall be given a discount of 50% of the usual rates for the first 10 hours of usage, 30% for temporary residents.]


    [Let''s increase the territory level even more!]


    "WHOA."


    The announcement naturally made a lot eyebrows rise, and those who had applied for the guards but didn''t pass (for now) were particularly envious.


    So lucky! They wanted to try it too!


    Of course, while the citizens didn''t get this benefit, they still had the extra discounts, so they weren''t too disappointed.


    "It upgraded! It really upgraded?!!" yelled many voices around the territory. Most of the people nearby rushed to see the upgraded building. It was done by the time the announcement was made, and the newcomers could only look at those who were already there for more details. Sёar?h the N?vel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "This is the first time I''ve seen a system building being constructed!" One said.


    "It''s too magical!" Another nodded.


    "I want to see what''s inside already!" Another one exclaimed. It was Hubert. It was his day off on guard duty, but he was still using it to train.


    Despite his idiotic personality, the guy worked very hard.


    Anyway, the ones kicked out during the upgrade were the first to enter, with the rest queuing up with anticipating hearts.


    After about half an hour, it was finally the couple''s turn to enter the building. They saw that there weren''t many changes at all except for the signage at the entrance.


    Apparently, the lower rooms remained the same, except monsters up to level 15 were available.


    This meant the soldiers staying could also improve their levels. Of course, people would still go to Ferrol simply because there wouldn''t be enough rooms in the Training Hall for all of them.


    There were no monetary rewards for killing a monster either, only experience (and discounted from the real thing).


    Another shortcoming of the training hall was that it only simulated monsters, not settings, which meant the actual fighting situations, including training to take advantage of the terrain, couldn''t be simulated.


    However, for the purpose of safe training, this was naturally a very very good thing. His soldiers would really still need to use this occasionally to master a few techniques they were practicing.


    The couple passed by the ground floor and went straight to the stairs to see the upper facilities.


    The upper two floors had completely different setups. On these floors were rooms dedicated to duos. The third floor was divided into two rooms for duos and trios, while the highest floor was only 1 room, and was dedicated to team play, with a maximum of 5 players.


    Garan nodded, thinking such a setup made sense. They paused in front of the room they were taking—a room for duos—and Garan looked at his wife.


    "I told you before that humans experience massive powerups at level 10 due to the elements while monsters'' bodies undergo major change at this level.


    He paused and continued. "Their bodies would become so strong and quick, much more so than before breaking that threshold. Generally, aborigines would need 5 strongmen handling a monster of the same level."


    Althea flinched. "So bad?! Is it always the case?"


    "For Elementalists, this could be reduced to two or three, which was the main reason we''re so revered here. However, it was still extremely difficult to deal with monsters of the same level, even for us.


    "Although us soldiers had learned several techniques and required a lot less manpower, it was generally not possible to deal with the same level alone.


    "This is probably why the training hall has more emphasis on teams after level 2."


    Althea frowned. This was very bad news.


    She made a mental note to hire more people to draw and document the monsters and create an even more comprehensive encyclopedia. It would not only show details of monsters, it would also have a list of weaknesses, strengths, and other data.


    There was already one in the works, but that one only did a basic introduction.


    She would also increase the remuneration for comprehensive information on monsters level 10 and above.


    Fortunately, level 10 and above monsters were rare in villages, and prevalent only in Towns.


    This made her even less inspired to try to upgrade into a town, whatever the requirement for that was.


    Their life was already very good, it was very reluctant to enter that tier with stronger enemies everywhere…


    With a bit of a heavy heart, she entered the training room with her husband. Before picking monsters though, Althea checked her stats again.


    [STATS:


    Name: Althea Witt


    Age: 25


    Level: 10 (1120/40000)


    Life: 3500/3500


    Spirit: 3500/3500 +50


    Physical: 600 +40


    Agility: 629 +10


    Defense: 606 +134


    Mana: 4500


    Physical Potential: A


    Mental potential: SS+


    Skills:


    Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1), Triple Shot (D), Curved Shot (C)


    Passive: None


    Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth


    Occupation: Pharmacist, Archer


    Titles: Lord of Altera, Elder of Plant and Pharmaceutical Studies


    Overall rank: S


    Current Status: Healthy ]


    [EQUIPMENT:


    Head: None


    Ears: None


    Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense


    Synthetic Vest +3 Defense


    Rainbow Silk Undergarments (A). +80 Defense, +10 Agility, +50 Spirit


    Medina Robe (C): +40 Defence


    Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense


    Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense


    Hands: Bellagio Bow (B): +40 ATK


    Leather Gloves +1 Defense


    Feet: Eagle Boots (B): +30 Agility (+10% weight reduction) ]


    She didn''t miss the massive increase of experience requirement for leveling up. "Would the experience requirement always be so much higher after level 10?"


    "Yes, it''s definitely much more difficult to level up after level 10. We only leveled up so fast because we were in danger every day, fighting against strong monsters."


    Althea patted her husband''s cheek as she was reminded of the dangers they faced. It wasn''t Garan''s intention, but he didn''t dislike the attention.


    Althea gave him a light peck on the lips before turning back to her stats. "Husband…" she asked, "Does everyone''s Health and Mana increase so much after level 10?"


    Garan nodded. "They do. From my observation, people''s Life and Spirit generally increased 100 every level up, and a larger increase of 300-500 during level 10.


    "I got a bit more than that…"


    "Mine got twice."


    "Mine…"


    "Thrice?"


    She nodded.


    "Then it is likely due to the amount of elements we have affinity."


    She nodded, but she furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms, looking at her stats again. "I don''t feel stronger…"


    Garan chuckled, "Unless you''re a fighter, you wouldn''t notice the changes until you''re in an actual fight," he said, "Before we summon, let me check on you first."


    Because Althea lost too much spirit the previous night, Garan didn''t allow her to practice elemental skills, he simply described some of the skills he had seen.


    He promised to take her to the barracks to watch his soldiers. For now, they would be fighting with monsters below her level, and get a feel of the elements by the way.


    "Considering the available surroundings you could use only water."


    People could control the elements, but only if they existed in the surroundings in some amount. In her case, wood could not be used because every surface in the room was rocks.


    The team had also determined during their training that the earth element couldn''t be used here either. This was unless one brought their own dirt, which was understandable to maintain the integrity of the surfaces.


    "Elemental skills are upgradable the more you master it. This is my Ice Spear at level 1. It consumes about 30 Mana," he said, manifesting a little spear of about a foot long and an inch wide at the middle, tapering to a sharp edge.


    He then manifested another spike. "Compared to my Ice Spear, Level 2, it would consume about 40 mana."


    She looked at it closer as he handed the spike. Not only was it larger—about half a meter long now—it was more durable and lasted a lot longer.


    Garan then showed off a bit more and manifested a few more small spears around him.


    Althea watched as her husband handsomely manifested into ice weapons, looking super dashing.


    She looked so admiring that Garan really wanted to make out with her.


    But he didn''t, because he was a very disciplined man.


    "Feel the elements with your spirit. You should''ve practiced the meditation technique, right?"


    Althea nodded.


    She closed her eyes, recalling the exercises they had been practicing for a while. The difference this time was that when she opened her eyes, sparkly particles of different colors were visible.


    Her eyes widened and she looked at her husband, who had been watching her fondly.


    "Husband!" She exclaimed, emerald eyes filled with light, "It''s so beautiful!!"


    Garan smiled and patted her head. "Imagine them as part of your experiments. It would be like handling them, except you do not have other tools other than your power."


    Althea blinked, absorbing his words.


    Garan watched his beautiful wife wave her hands, feeling the water elements in the air.


    It didn''t follow her will at first, but soon the sparkles followed the set path she decided on, soon weaving strands of energy that were visible to the naked eye.


    Garan nodded. He knew his wife could do it. She had always been very talented.


    As a scientist, Althea was very aware of the composition of the elements, so it became more intuitive to her.


    Soon a small ball of water appeared floating between her palms, suspended in mid-air.


    The ball defied gravity, hovering in front of her, and it looked like it had a life of its own.


    It was shaky and couldn''t hold the most stable spherical shape, but it was at least a pretty oval.


    Her beautiful emerald eyes brightened with amazement and pride.


    She did it! Her first water ball!!