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Afterlife - Next World's Auction House
Progress is the path to success!

Progress is the path to success!

Of course, when we returned to camp and reunited with Alexandra’s group, I was unfortunately proven right. Unlike our team, theirs only returned with their spoils now, putting a strain on the people in her team due to the stupidly high weight.

Not only that, there were no scratches even on the elves in her team despite the three bears they hunted. Obviously though, Alexandra was covered in bruises and cuts proofs of her entanglement with the bears one on one.

Seeing the smug and very proud cheat elf, I promptly chop-smacked her head stupefying both her and the remaining people in the unit. She looked confused and wronged at me, but even those big beautiful eyes did not stop me from admonishing her.

“You dimwit! What did I say about safety first!? You obviously heard me, yet you still hunted three bears?”

[But…but you hunted one also!] – I she strongly complained

“One of our squads walked in on a wounded bear that attacked them. We didn’t seek the damned animal out! Yet I can see from your wounds that you did! You realize how dangerous that was for the rest of the team? While you might be strong enough to fight one, what if a group attacked the rest of the elves? Also, you put a lot of strain on everybody carrying such a huge load back home and probably they didn’t even get to hunt or develop a sense of working in a team. You should’ve known that the purpose of these exercises is to train their teamwork. Not to mention that by doing everything yourself, you even lost the competition.”

[But… we hunted three bears!](A)

“Yeah, but you failed to hunt many other prey. See that small mountain the people in the processing squad are working on? That’s our hunt for today. While the bear gives you 30 points, you wasted too much time killing them, so even without subtracting points for your wounds, you would have still lost. Same for you lot! Do not get caught in search for glory and achievements! Always use your head and try to figure out the safest and the most efficient way to complete a task. Got it!?”

[[[Yes sir!]]]

[Sorry Michael…](A) – she whispered softly while lowering her head

“It’s alright love. We all have room to learn and improve. Obviously the same applies to you as well.” – I answered while patting her head

After winning with by a landslide, my group cheered in happiness while the others were slightly dejected but did their best to comfort Alexandra by telling her how they will win the next time. I was happy with their overall reactions and took them back to finish the evening exercises.

While running and having everyone sing along, I looked from time to time at the growing trees in the clearing. The residential area was already decided to be on the East side of the World Tree and currently, the last of the required elven huts were being completed.

Not only that, but according to the report Mia gave me after talking with the processing squad, there are enough bed covers and pillows for every house. Given that only 71 elven huts were currently required, the number of bed covers was the same while two pillows per hut were sufficient.

The news that pleased me the most didn’t come from anyone in particular but it happened while we were still hunting, in the form of a notification from the system.

Progress made in the Pottery research technology through discovery!

500 Research Points have been awarded!

Your civilization successfully researched the Pottery technology!

Current and future generations will be provided with the knowledge to craft and use it!

Seeing however that there was no prompt about any new Jobs being unlocked I assumed the fact that only specific main technologies have that effect while others will simply strengthen the previous ones. So, unfortunately there won’t be any Harry Potter in this civilization…

“Alright you lot! Meal seems to be ready and every other unit returned as well. Get in marching position! We’re going back to camp to get your surprise for today worth of hard work!”

[[[Yes sir!]]]

I began pondering about how I didn’t want to get involved too much and tried to hold as little influence as possible, but I still ended up taking most of the power from Alexandra. She is still the representative and the hero, but I somehow became the freaking monarch of this small camp…

My sullen thoughts were washed over fast by the clamoring of the people near the newly built houses, all apparently heading towards the same area: the ‘dining hall’.

“Dining hall my ass… thank Reaper that Denise and the remaining nine apprentices managed to create some tables and chairs and placed them in four rows close together. Thanks to Mia’s suggestion of assignment, they can at least eat and converse with each other properly, even during the meals. I also added a rule of my own, through which every person must stay in a different spot at each meal. That way, everybody will interact with everybody.”

After leading the marching unit towards the ‘dining hall’, I realized that we were all sweaty and smelly. I instantly turned around and gave the order for everyone to go talk with Mia and have their houses assigned and pick up from inside a specific object.

I did the same and after entering the house with Alexa, I found in the kitchen two big pots (closest thing to a mini-bathtub Denise could come up with through pottery) and two thin furs that were supposed to be used as towels.

While leaving Alexa use the dormitory to clean herself and myself the kitchen, I wiped my body with the strangely nice smelling deer fur and inspected it closely. It was almost strange how it was processed a bit differently and it was thinner than even the ones used for the pillows. I gave up trying to reason it out and began thinking about inventing some shampoo and soap. However, after running my hand across my face, I felt some stubbles and realized that I might require some shaving soon enough…

At the same time realization dawned upon me and I almost tripped over the big pot filled now with dirty water.

“Why haven’t I taken a dump or even pissed even once after coming to this world!? After all, I ate big amounts and drank water even more…”

After quickly cleaning up, I had one of the elves nearby go and call Mia for me. She arrived fast and looked strangely at the strange look I had on my face. I was quite unsure about how to ask her this.

“Mia, I know how this is going to sound, but I literally have no idea of how to ask it... After coming to this world, my bodily functions changed as I am unable to… defecate. Do you have any idea as per why?”

[Yes master! The changes are applied to my body as well. Given the fact that our body structure was changed because of the divinity influx received, its composition changed as well. For the reason why, is because the divinity affected the way our bodies operate by increasing their efficiency. For example, the digestive system is currently able to break down the food on molecular level and use every bit of it to strengthen the entire body. That is the reason why after eating, different attributes might increase.](Mia)

“Then… what about the elves?”

Do not misunderstand! I was still quite confused after hearing the explanation, however I wondered if something similar might have happened to the others.

[It is the same for them, however with small changes. In their cases, the divinity was replaced by mana, strangely enhancing their bodies even better than our own. However, unlike master, their bodies still have the need for sleep, food and water. It is very likely that mana restructured everything about them, becoming a hybrid between the biologic composition back on Earth and a being made out of pure mana. If I was to estimate, about 60% or more of the elves organism is made of mana. Or rather, the water in their bodies contains huge amounts of it, given that the oxygen was replaced by it.](Mia)

I became utterly silent (while trying to process and understand everything I just heard) and was reminded again how this was in fact a game and the elves are just the souls of the people who already died on Earth. A different being than a human was now standing in front of me, as Alexandra descended the flight of stairs.

I had mixed feelings for a moment, when thinking about how exactly they were different and still trying to make sense of Mia’s explanation. The simple version of it was that, due to the mana that restructured their bodies, they did not need to poop or pee…

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“Haaah… I guess that makes the public sanitation easier to handle in the future. With no toilets required, I could focus fully on creating the bathhouse of my dreams, where both man and woman could enjoy the warm water together.”- I said while running from reality

Walking out with the two beauties towards the first truly scrumptious meal prepared, the smell of cooked food assaulted my nostrils.

I looked curiously at the giggling Mia who wanted to keep secret what exactly was cooked and hurried along to the tables where all other elves were waiting patiently for our arrival.

What I saw, once more caught me by surprise, as different type of covered plates were steaming still on the tables and multiple huge simmering pots released vapors that made everyone’s mouths water.

To go even further, there were two types of plates standing on top of the other with the one on top being a deep plate resembling a bowl and the one under being a regular one. Next to the plates, there were one fork and one spoon each, even a big utensil was apparent in the big pots that had either soup or stew. I looked at Denise and her group of craftsmen that had proud expressions on their faces and I felt the need to bow my head in front of them. Didn’t we just jumped from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages at least when it comes to the quality of the food?

We were prompted to take the seats by the group of five people which took the roles of chefs and I raised my hand in order to silence the crowd and gain their attention.

However, instead of me speaking, I gestured to one of the girls to speak up as the representative of the chef unit.

[Uhm… hello everyone! As you might know already, my name is Andrea Greenwood and with the four people beside me, we prepared today’s food. This is the first time we prepared something based on big sister Mia’s instructions, so we would appreciate if you could tell us how the taste, texture and the food in general are.](Andrea)

“I think that it would help to explain the dishes you’ve just created to everyone here, but try to keep it brief since everybody’s self-control is about to run out.” – I said while chuckling

[Understood! With big sister Mia’s help, we used different vegetables including some called potatoes and carrots as well as many others, cut the meat using the stone knives from the hunter units in small shapes and filled the big container you see on the tables with water. Big sister Mia called it a pot… After all the ingredients were placed, we used a wooden lid to cover and let the water boil until it became less and less. Towards the end, we also used plants and mushrooms as well as an extra ingredient big sister Alexandra brought today called honey and as result is what you see in front of you. In addition, we have prepared as a second dish the same potatoes from before roasted as well as meat grilled, which big sister Mia called stake. I hope everyone can enjoy it!](Andrea)

Under the cheers and applause of everyone, the girl which became several shades redder than before, took a sit and uncovered one of the pots. The other people staying at each table did the same thing and an intoxicating smell assaulted the nostrils of everyone present. Myself? I was stunned by the words I just heard previously!

“So Alexandra gained some honey after killing those three bears and she probably found them fighting among them for it. However, even more important, POTATOES! Mia actually found potatoes! Now not only can we diversify our culinary recipes, but we can also prepare to plant some. And there’s no need to wait as usually the second yearly crop can be planted as late as mid-June…”

Looking at Mia which was smiling happily after one-upping me again, I patted her head and slightly ruffled her hair which made her pout for a moment, only to beam an absolutely gorgeous smile once more.

“You little fox! Didn’t you say that you didn’t find anything we can plant?”

[Yesterday the woodcutting unit found them by mistake nearby.](Mia)

“I see. That is excellent! What do you think? Can we still make it if we plant them now? And how early can we expect the first harvest?”

[The earliest they can usually be planted is a couple of weeks after the last spring frost. Given that we are in mid-summer, we can safely plant them. For the harvest… it usually takes up to 10 weeks for the first tubers to form and it’s quite unfortunate that we didn’t manage to plant them early on, as we could’ve easily took a secondary harvest from them if planted in spring…](Mia)

“Nothing we can do about that really, but I’m really happy with the results so far! Next if we could find something to plant like corn or grain would be excellent…”

[I will keep looking master.](Mia)

[What are you two whispering about!?](A) – she pouted displeased about being left out

“We were talking about the potatoes. We will be able to plant them soon, so the farm-reclamation unit will have a lot of work to do. Oh, right! Before I don't forget… Mia, interface please!” – I whispered again

[Acknowledged!](Mia)

[Interface?](A)

“Oh shit… my bad on that one. She actually heard me…”

“Nothing to worry about love. Everyone, let’s give our thanks to the Chaos God for another day that we made it safe out of and also the chef unit that managed to cook us such a deliciously looking meal!”

Everybody cheered once more for the three girls and two guys that cooked for the rest of the elven camp, following which everyone went silent for a couple of minutes and prayed from the bottom of their heart to me. It was a weird feeling seeing that, but even stranger when I realized that I could hear fain voices repeating and overlapping inside my head.

There were voices that asked me for protection, others that asked me for power to defeat the monsters, some that prayed for the Radom Elf no9 to fall in love with them and others that simply thanked me for their new life.

Unconsciously, I smiled and wanted to reply to their prayer, but didn’t know how… so I decided to use the only way which I knew: a Soul Upgrade miracle!

Select whom you would like to use Soul Upgrade on!

“Andrea Greenwood.” –I whispered softly

Andrea Greenwood is currently at LvL 1 in soul refinement.

Cost to upgrade to LvL 2 - 2500 SP.

Due to effect of the miracle cost is reduced by 50%! Would you like to proceed?

Yes No

“Yes.” – I confirmed making Mia look strangely at me

The look in her eyes, I felt it was the look that a wife would give her husband after he spent their savings playing on roulette, but I had to do it. Otherwise, I could not do anything about this feeling inside my chest…

[GASP!!](Andrea)

Everybody stopped eating and talking, fully focused on the source of the sound. The girl herself was covered in a black glow seemingly absorb the light in its surroundings. I remembered how during the hero appointment, the same type of black color descended from the sky above, making me sweat a little.

“Why does it have to be black!? Is that some sort of flag?”

[It is the blessing of God! Isn’t it the same color big sister Alexandra had when she received the blessing of the God of Chaos?](Random Elf no10)

Everyone began clamoring and saw the happiness that Andrea was radiating. Everyone began asking what sort of blessing she received and she obliged and answered. Before she did though, I already saw her Status Page and grinned.

“What an unexpected gain! With this, another great person joined the ranks!”

Name

Andrea Greenwood

Name

Value

Name

Value

Job Name

Level

Progress

Race

Elf

STR

10

Magic

9

Elf Chef

3

28%

Sex

Woman

DEX

21

Charm

35

Age

5 days

AGI

18

Luck

25

World

Midgard

END

13

Concentration 9      

HP

255/255 (+7.2/sec)

INT

23

Free Attribute Points + 15      

MP

225/225(+2.7/sec)

WIS

19

Skill List Name Level Proficiency Cooking(Basic) 1 0%

Blessings Blessing of the World Tree