Rebirth: 100 Days Before Doomsday

The transformation of Starfall Isle, over the next couple of months, was nothing short of miraculous.

What had once been an abandoned, crumbling island was now thriving under Grace's leadership. The land was no longer just a barren stretch of ruins and overgrown wilderness, filled with countless Shadow Beasts.

About sixty-five percent of the island had been cleared by the clearing teams, making way for new buildings, parks, and farmlands. Thousands of trees had been planted, covering the island with lush greenery that purified the air.

Orchards full of fruit-bearing trees were lining the paths between the residential areas. Parks were scattered throughout the city, providing places of rest and peace. And at the heart of the island, a large pond which was completely man-made, reflected the clear sky like a mirror.

Starfall Isle had become a sanctuary, a place where humans could finally feel safe and hopeful again.

And while the Great Alliance had been investing a lot of resources to filter water and make it drinkable, the citizens of Starfall Isle were enjoying it in abundance.

All around the city, several water reservoirs were built to supply water across the island through the pipe system. Every morning, before the sun had even risen, Grace would enter her spatial dimension and gather water from the lake inside.

All it took was a wave of her hand, and the water from the lake filled the reservoirs set up across the island, ensuring every resident had access to fresh, clean water.

The barrier surrounding the island was keeping out the bitter cold of the volcanic winter, allowing crops to flourish across the fields that were set up at the western end of the island.

Not only this, but every citizen above the age of five was required to attend the mandatory morning training sessions at their nearest training grounds. This allowed, not just the warriors, but all the other residents of the Starfall Isle to grow healthier, stronger, and more powerful every day.

No one remained weak.

Even the youngest children were practicing basic combat stances, while the adults sparred daily to improve their fighting skills. No one was against this mandatory training because they all understood Grace's reason behind it - Strength was no longer a choice in the current world, it was a necessity.

While the island flourished, teams of warriors set out on daily expeditions to hunt the infected and Shadow Beasts.

Every day, several teams ventured beyond the safety of the barrier to brave the ruins of the old world. While some returned with groups of survivors, others returned with abundance of Spirit Stones that they gathered from the Shadow Beasts they killed.

Since it had been nearly four years into the apocalypse, every single Shadow Beast out there had already development their Spirit cores. Hence, even their babies were born with Spirit Stones.

But even after all this time, the highest level of Spirit Stone found was of Level Seven - one from the Boss Grace killed on the island, and two more when she, Davian, and Rune went out to train and take down some of the powerful Beasts.

And with the countless uses these Spirit Stones had, they became the second most useful item in this timeline after food, taking over weapons. They were now the key to humanity's survival and evolution.

And Starfall Isle had no shortage of these Spirit Stones. Not only Grace had found the way to refine them to make them consumable by general people, she was also the only person on the planet who knew how to fuse them to create an even higher level Stone. This alone gave her a huge advantage over the Great Alliance who still hadn't found out that these stones could be consumed.

As the number of warriors were growing, so was the population of Starfall Isle.

First 3,000 residents.

Then 4,000.

And as the fourth year of apocalypse came to an end, the population of the island increased to slightly over 5,000.

With every new arrival, the city was expanding, and more warriors joined the ranks of its elite forces.

Under Grace's leadership, the first team of all Rank B Elite warriors emerged. While there were only twelve warriors in this team, each one was a Rank B and carried elemental powers along with their oen superpowers.

These warriors were the ones who trained with Rune, Davian, Grace, and passed all the tests set up by the AI of the Warrior Academy.

To reward them for their achievement, Grace offered them two things - the first was refined Level Three Spirit Stones for each of them. They were according to the elemental powers the warriors already possesed, mesnt to help them break past their limits and grow even stronger in the future.

And the second was the mission to take down a Class-7 Shadow Beast that was terrorizing the eastern perimeter of the Starship Country's safe zone.

A Class-7 Shadow Beast was as powerful as a Rank A warrior. This meant that the beast was clearly more powerful than the warriors. However, the reason that Grace still gave this task was because while there was just one Beast, the warriors were twelve.

One or two Rank B warriors might not be able to even scratch a Class-7 Shadow Beast, but twelve of them should be able to injure it badly if not to take it down.

What she wanted was to test the warriors. As long as they succeeded in showing a good team work out on the field while facing such a powerful enemy, and injure it at least with one fatal move, they were going to pass this final test.

However, she kept this piece of information to herself, not revealing anything to the warriors.

"You both will go with them. You have only two tasks - keep them alive and kill the beast when it's time." Grace gave orders to Valeska and Maven, letting the two of them to secretly follow after the Elite Team of warriors.

She was looking forward to the Spirit Stone she would be receiving later that day.