Althea stood in front of the very popular Training Hall, just before dusk. To her surprise, she saw the long line waiting to use the facility, with people waiting patiently for their turn as they chatted.
At this time, some stall owners had already brought their portable shops and were selling some snacks and drinks to the line.
Ah, people could never let an opportunity to earn money pass by.
Whatever it was, Althea was just very happy to know that even when the day was ending, even after people had just gone home from a long day of work, people were still dedicated to self-improvement.
From this line, it could be seen that a lot of people chose to spend their contribution points strengthening themselves first before anything else. She had worried people would choose to spend it on comfort first, but it seemed she thought too much.
This was a wise choice for them, and it somehow made her feel proud of them like a mother.
She also looked forward to using it herself. She was strongly prohibited (by her team and Mathilda) from using this facility during the past few days. Naturally, this was because she had just given birth and the training hall was known for the physical and mental exhaustion it pushed a person to.
There was news of ordinary people buying time with contribution points, but they came out half-dead.
Of course, the gains were also not small. These ordinary citizens gained a level and were recruited into the guards shortly afterward.
This was what she was after. She had remained stagnant in the beginning of level 6, not having been able to go out much after giving birth.
And even if she did, for some reason level 1s—the predominant mobs—no longer gave her any experience. Now she had to make up for it.
With a deep breath, she walked forward and lined up like everybody else. It was just that her presence had always been strong and she was quickly noticed by the people lining up.
"Ms. Althea!" One said and everyone paused whatever they were doing and whipped their heads in her direction.
She smiled awkwardly, a bit taken aback.
She could only watch as the people lining up smiled at her panderingly.
"It's Ms. Althea!" One paused, "Please go ahead!"
"Yes, Ms. Althea! Please go here…" one said, pointing at the space in front of him.
Even without her contribution to the food industry, her striking beauty, or her position in the territory… Her hiring rate alone was enough for people to want to suck up to her.
Seeing that the people thought it would be an honor to give up their position in line for her, she was not polite. Simply thanked them with a smile.
"No problem, miss!"
"We're glad to save you time!"
"Everyone knows your time is super precious! Equivalent to the food of our village!"
They looked so funny, she thought, and she laughed with them.
"Well, I'll make sure we release some more products soon." She said just before entering the hall, and when it closed she could hear them cheer.
…
Althea looked closely at the training hall as she entered. It was a two-storey building with around 500 square meters of footprint. There were about 10 rooms altogether per floor, with five doors facing each other on a one-meter-wide hallway.
At the end of the hallway, there was a parchment with words written in strong strokes. Althea, who had been learning the local language, could make out the words 'Strength First, Happiness Later', which was quite amusing.
She stood outside one of the available doors, determined by the fact that it was partially open, unlike the others that were closed shut. It had a very crude and simple in design.
Althea went in and looked around the room, observing before doing anything. It was a room composed of stone all around, walls to floor, without any embellishments. It was more like a more refined quadrilateral cave than anything else.
Disregarding the aesthetics, she then proceeded to the function. At level 1, the Training Hall could only manifest a maximum level monster of level 5. However, it was still much better than the puny level 3s outside.
A familiar ding rang in her head as soon as she closed the door.
[Welcome to the Training Hall! Please choose the level of training you wish to experience!
Level 1
Cost: 50 contribution/hour
Level 2
Cost: 100 contribution/hour
Level 3
Cost: 200 contribution/hour
Level 4
Cost: 300 contribution/hour
Level 5
Cost: 500 contribution/hour]
In the back room, this contribution point was automatically converted to its equivalent copper. From what she understood, 90% of this money went back to her pockets, while the rest went to 'somewhere else', likely going to the mysterious 'developer' of the building.
This amount per hour was understandably not cheap, and she mused it was probably because manifesting monsters took up a lot of energy.
This also showed the territory's willingness to invest in the guards by providing them with a few hours of training for free, regardless of level, which increased the prestige of both the job and the territory even more.
Before doing anything though, she took time to check on her stats.
[STATS:
Name: Althea Witt
Age: 25
Level: 6 (100/20000)
Life: 900/900
Spirit: 900/900 +50
Physical: 175 +40
Agility: 177 +10
Defense: 114 +94
Mana: 900
Physical Potential: B
Mental potential: SS+
Skills:
Active: Elementary Appraisal (D), Perfect Aim (D), Quick Shot (D), Growth Skill Mixture Calculator (Lv1),
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
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) ]
Satisfied, she turned her attention to the holographic screen dedicated to the facility.
After paying the money for a level 5 monster, a hologram-like thing appeared in front of her.
It was a bigger, scarier, version of the Gnomos, one of the first monsters she encountered here. It was still similar to an ugly rat, but its green hue was darker and more menacing, its short tail was now longer and sharper, and its teeth looked like it could kill twice as easily as the Gnomos they had known.
And so a woman and a monster stared each other down, with the latter's eye glinting with malice.
Althea couldn't help but gape for a moment, looking at how there seemed to be saliva also dropping, how its fur was raised at the sight of her.
It was so realistic. The aura of a stronger monster was intimidating, and it sent goosebumps up her spine.
But more of her… was excited.
She'll finally get a good fight!