When they arrived and left the array, the couple immediately received many stares. However, because they moved fast and they were in disguise, no one really recognized them. Anyway, Alterra’s Mercenary Hall array was one of the most active ones among towns.

The way to their villa was rather uneventful, but they appreciated the beauty of the town. It had only been a month or so, but it felt like they had been gone forever.

When they reached the gates, they could hear the giggling of children. Sneaking in, they also got a glimpse of their babies.

However, as parents, they could still tell they were not in the best condition. They were restless children, so they could not stay still, but their bodies didn’t necessarily cooperate completely.

Their movements were a beat slower than before, they would stand up for shorter periods of time, and their zoomies were barely called running.

Still, it livened up the villa and made people’s hearts turn to mush just by hearing them.

"Meatball, meatball!" Theo said, looking at Meatball, who was trying to climb random rocks. "Don’t go there!"

At least he wasn’t floating....

Not yet, anyway.

Meanwhile...

"Wow, Pepper! Amazing Pepper!" This was Maya this time. "But remember what the adults said? No heights unless emergency! Is this an emergency?"

Pepper was currently on the roof of the doghouse. It wasn’t too tall, just two meters, but that wasn’t short for a baby either.

Pepper was leisurely sunbathing with her milk bottle, and Maya looked worried on the ground floor, her arms stretched out as if prepared to catch Pepper if she ever fell down.

Little Maya was acting more and more like a big sister.

By this time, the children had already shown their abilities to the public, so the adults just allowed them to get used to it. They were guarded all 28 hours of the day, anyway.

Their bodies were shocked and overused their power going against the speedster before, which was why they got sick. It was like overstretching rubber and weakening it, making it horribly close to snapping.

But since it was already stretched out, using them in small increments and intensity would no longer be a problem. Similarly, how many times would they encounter such pressure again? So, technically speaking, any serious problems with the babies’ bodies wouldn’t happen any time soon.

It was just that the reality of things was that the metaphorical ’rubber band’ was still on the verge of rupturing, which was why Althea and Garan were going around at all.

Even if nothing happened in the near future, which parent would be fine keeping their children in that precarious state?

Eventually, Althea and Garan looked at each other and stepped forward. Despite their disguises, the children recognized them immediately.

"MAMAAAAA! DADAAAA!!" Meatball yelled, dropping from a foot high, dropping down on all fours, but quickly getting up and toddling to them.

"AMISSSSHYUUU!!" Pepper yelled as she did the same. Unlike her brother, she was quite interested in learning new vocabulary.

The two parents smiled and captured their children, embracing them after a long time of separation.

...

Dinner that day was naturally a feast in Gaea villa, with everyone, including those who had moved out, coming in for a big dinner set out in the gardens.

Hoffen, the two other master alchemists, as well as the Golds were also here. Not only were they close friends, they also needed their points of view on these.

Garan and Althea, after greeting everyone, got cleaned up, aiming to finish before everyone arrived. It was just that the kids refused to let them go, practically sticking their small arms around their necks, so they had no choice but to take a bath along with them.

That dinner, they informed the team about everything that had happened so far. The team was in awe and also a bit envious. In fact, most of them had been through one or two missions while the couple was out. However, they didn’t dare go too far away. Hearing about places well beyond the usual scope of their Mercenary Hall tickled their curiosity.

They also found out that the couple managed to beat thousands of undead, and that they were great grinding spots for people around level 20!

Ansel and a few people felt a bit giddy about this. Although Alterra was a level 2 town, the number of monsters around level 20 didn’t pass a dozen or two on normal days.

A single monster could create havoc in villages, sure, so they didn’t wish for more, but how many level 20s were there in the region? Just the number of mercenaries setting base was more than the number of level 20 monsters they received a day! And this was already more often than that of other towns!

This explained why aborigines leveled up slowly after a certain threshold, allowing many Terrans to catch up.

Now that they found out there was an actual grinding spot, it seemed like the aborigines simply didn’t explore or hang passionately enough!

Plus, unlike Althea, who’d only be able to use it until her next upgrade (since she only received experience points up to two levels below), the rest could use it until they were level 25 or more!

Speaking of the Undead, they also remembered the overview of the adventures there, including the confirmation that one of the legendary life stones, the Elyssian, was located there.

"What does the Elysian Stone look like?"

Althea nodded and took it out of the space, withdrawing the vines that covered it. Garan also made sure to hide the anomalies with his own powers, making sure no one outside sensed anything amiss here, though the specifics of how he did it were unknown to most.

As soon as the mysterious stone appeared, everyone in the vicinity felt heavy. The weaker ones even felt like fainting. Althea didn’t take it out before in the desert precisely because Medusa would’ve fainted well.

"Fascinating..."

Hoffen, as always, chewed through the discomfort and hovered his hand around the item. He was naturally careful, not knowing how it would react, getting closer millimeter by millimeter, but he was unable to!

Eyebrows furrowed as he wrapped his hand with aether, but to no avail. After a few seconds, he... gave up.

It wasn’t that he was not curious anymore, it was more like he knew that his apprentice could fill up any gap he needed to fill, so he didn’t stress himself out.

Curious, a few others tried to touch it too, even Zaol and Orion, but to no avail.

"Hmn, this must be what Lady Naia meant by requiring elfblood."

Garan looked at them. "I can’t touch it either."

"..."

Althea explained that it was because she had already bonded with it before she took it away. This way, only Althea would be able to control it. It was one of the only comforts she had when she took this thing back with her.

The people around were both relieved and concerned. Althea might no longer care about people finding out she was the Lord, but now she—depending on how useful this thing actually was—might have another knife over her head.

Of course, there was also another source of comfort.

Thinking of this, a sly smile graced her face. She lifted her head and looked at everyone.

"We also received a lot of aether crystals this time."