Rhea's crazed smile and vengeful nature, only made her more sexy in Galen's eyes.

Yes...

Something was definitely wrong with his head.

But, you can't actually blame him. Living as a loner for millions of years often does that to people.

With a bit of reluctance, he finally diverted his attention from her and focused on dealing with the monsters, newly emerging from the dimensional gate.

Of course, it wasn't even a proper fight. It was simply a massacre.

Galen strode leisurely through the horde of raging monsters, each casual swing of his sword cleaving them apart like a knife through butter.

Galen's weapon – Black Fang, was an uncommon grade weapon.

But these monsters, even the most powerful of them were only at the peak of common grade. So there wasn't anything they could do aside from patiently waiting for their death.

15 minutes later, Rhea also joined him after finishing off the incapacitated monsters.

Killing them all resulted in her gaining a massive amount of exp, which propelled her to level 8 within minutes.

With all the stats she gained from her recent level ups, Rhea's strength exploded.

Galen watched with a light smile as she began slaughtering the monsters with her newfound strength.

After confirming that her life wasn't in any danger, he stepped aside to let her have her fill – of battle and exp.

As she kept killing, Rhea also eventually reached level 10, the peak of her current rank.

Aside from Galen, who has been raising his levels like it was nothing with his bloodline perk – 5x exp gain, Rhea could be considered the fastest human to reach level 10.

Even after reaching her current level, Rhea continued her task of dispatching the monsters.

*

Her current status ;

[ Name : Rhea Everlight

Age : 35

Race : Human

Level : 1 –> 10

Class : none

Rank : Unranked

(+1 to all stats for every level up.)

Titles : none

Traits : none

Bloodline : none

— —

Stats :

Strength : 0.8 –> 9.8

Vitality : 0.7 –> 9.7

Agility : 1.0 –> 10.0

Dexterity : 1.8 –> 10.8

Intelligence : 1.2 –> 10.2

— —

Mana : 102

Innate abilities :

1) Dexterous physique (passive) : grants the ability to perform difficult actions skillfully and with ease, particularly using the hands or body.

*****

After what felt like an eternity, Earth finally finished it's evolution, putting an end to the hour-long apocalypse.

The next moment,

[ System announcement !!! ]

[ Emergency quest – survive the apocalypse has ended. ]

[ Earth's evolution – complete. ]

[ Stabilizing the spatial fabric – complete. ]

[ Teleporting the invading monsters back into their respective dimensional gates – complete. ]

[ Congratulations, denizens of Earth, for surviving the apocalypse ! All of you have been awarded +5 levels. ]

— —

The Earth went strangely silent after the last system prompt.

All over the world, the rampaging monsters suddenly vanished without a trace.

The humans who had escaped death by a hair's breath, were thanking their Gods while shedding tears of joy.

Those who had lost their loved ones, however, were cursing the high heavens for the misfortune that had fallen upon them without warning.

Not everyone was like Rhea, capable enough to deal with the monsters.

Among the normal humans, only those armed with firearms had even the slightest chance of repelling the monsters.

Even then, repelling them was all they could do.

But for others, these monsters were their worst nightmare.

They could only watch as their friends, their loved ones and even themselves, get torn apart and eaten by those abominations.

But now those dreadful monsters were gone, as suddenly as they came.

After a bit of silence, the world exploded with chatter, some social media apps even crashing due to the sudden influx of activity from across the world.

Everyone has seen the system prompts in front of them, with most of them experiencing the terror of the monsters firsthand.

So they had lots of questions.

About the monsters,

About the System,

And about Mana.

But no one was there to give them the answers.

***

After the quest ended, since both Rhea and Graham had already reached Level 10, their +5 level reward was put on hold until they ranked up to D-Class.

With no more monsters leaving the dimensional gate, Rhea stood there in silence, still relishing the feeling of her recent battle.

With a mischievous smile, Galen slowly approached her from behind.

When he was close enough, he leaned his head forward and whispered,

"Did you have fun, dear teacher?"

"Aaaahhhhh..."

Feeling his hot breath brushing against her ear, Rhea jumped like a cat that had its tail stepped on.

Turning around and facing him, she asked with an aggrieved expression.

"Why did you do that?"

Just as Galen was about to reply, she  suddenly narrowed her eyes, her whole demeanor shifting in an instant.

"Did you just say, Teacher ?" Rhea asked for confirmation.

"I said *dear teacher*,but oh well..." Graham shrugged with a smile.

Ignoring his flirting, Rhea asked with confusion colouring her face.

"Why are you addressing me like that ?"

"It's because I was your student, duh..."

" But... "

Pausing for a moment and looking him up and down Rhea continued,

"I don't recall ever teaching someone this.... good–looking before."

Rhea was about to say 'someone this handsome', but eventually stopped herself at the last second.

"So, what was your name again?"

"My name is Galen."

"Galen Vaelthorn, teacher."

Hearing his answer, Rhea carefully observed his raven black hair, along with those piercing golden eyes, eventually finding some similarities between this handsome young man who has saved her life,  and that little cute boy sitting alone in his corner.

"Are you that Galen Vaelthorn, the one who became a doctor after graduation?"

"Yes, that's me."

Even after his confirmation, Rhea still couldn't believe her eyes.

'What the actual f*ck? His transformation is totally absurd'

"Wait... Just because you haven't seen me for a few years, did you really forget about me? Your favourite student?"

Galen asked, pretending to be a bit sad.

Seeing his pained expression, Rhea was flustered immediately, not knowing what to do.

"N-no... It's not like that."

"It's just... you have grown up so much since the last time I saw you that I couldn't recognise you at first..."

"On top of that, you have also become a lot more handsome ."

She muttered the last sentence quietly to herself.

But Galen, with his enhanced senses, perfectly heard it.

"Thanks for the compliment, I guess..." He replied with his lips curled up in a faint smirk.

A sudden thought crossed her mind and looking at him, Rhea asked with a doubtful expression.

"I'm pretty sure you don't live around here, since I haven't seen you anywhere near this place after your graduation."

" So how come you are here, right now?"

"I came here just for you, dear teacher."

"What?" Rhea blurted out. His reply didn't make any sense to her.

"Why?", she could only ask him for clarification.

"Because..."

Locking his light golden eyes with those enchanting amethyst eyes of hers,

And with an affectionate expression, capable of melting any woman's heart,

Galen confessed with a sincere tone.

"I Love You, Rhea Everlight."

"Or, should I say..."

"I Love You,

My Dear Teacher."