BXBX NOVEL Chapter 216 Keys and Essences
Chapter 216 Keys and Essences
Just like Ray, Alex was also surprised when he heard all the items that Asteria just said.
Alex could not help but shake his head in wonder as he gave Asteria a confused look.
"These are a lot of items... are you sure that I need to buy them all?" Alex asked this question to Asteria calmly as he idly observed the goblin corpses being gathered by Queen Mother and Professor Frances.
"Of course you will not buy them all!" Asteria declared as she placed her hands on her hips. "Are you an idiot or what?"
Before Alex could reply heatedly, Asteria beat him to the punch as she said,
"Why would you even waste money to buy them all? You will just waste your time and lifespan!"
"Then what the hell should I buy then?" Alex asked hotly as he recalled the item list that Asteria just said earlier.
[[Key of the Blue Moon]] --- 50 Years
[[Key of the Yellow Moon]] --- 50 Years
[[Key of the Green Moon]] --- 50 Years
[[Key of the Red Moon]] --- 200 Years
[[Essence of the Blue Moon]] --- 30 Years
[[Essence of the Yellow Moon]] --- 30 Years
[Essence of the Green Moon]] --- 30 Years
[[Essence of the Red Moon]] --- 30 Years
[[Tome of Divine Might]] --- 30 Years
[[Pearl of Endless Void]] --- 30 Years
[[Sword of Indomitable Will]] --- 30 Years
[[Tower of Afterlife]] --- 30 Years
[[Superhero Cultivation Body]] --- 5 Years
"..."
As Alex remembered the item list that Asteria uttered, he started to see a pattern amongst them.
First, there were the [[Keys]], with each moon represented by a [[Key]].
There are four moons, which meant that there are four [[Keys]] available for sale.
What made Alex wary of these keys was the fact that they cost 50 Years each, meaning that they are highly valuable items, and from the way that they are positioned in the list, it seems like these [[Keys]] are needed to complete the Main Mission.
The second group that Alex saw were the [[Essences]], which was just like the [[Keys]], were also assigned to the four moons.
Unlike the [[Keys]], the [[Essences]] only require 30 Years of Lifespan each, but still, that was expensive compared to anything that Alex had bought before.
Then there were the remaining items.
[[Tome of Divine Might]]
[[Pearl of Endless Void]]
[[Sword of Indomitable Will]]
[[Tower of Afterlife]]
With just one look, these items were obviously meant to be used physically, and with their price also ranging at 30 Years, Alex was sure that they are highly important too.
The last item that Alex heard in the list was the [[Superhero Cultivation Body]], which only costed 5 Years of Lifesspan.
Now that Alex looked at it, it seemed like this time around, the [[Superhero Cultivation Body]] had actually little potential just by looking at its price alone.
"Tsk, Asteria, can you explain to me what are the new items about?" Upon realizing that he won’t actually understand the new items just by looking at them, Alex had decided to ask Asteria for her advice as a Guide. "Since you are my Guide, you obviously know something about them, right?"
"Of course I know about them! What do you think about me?" Asteria exclaimed as she seemed scandalized with what Alex just said.
The dumb fairy then crossed her arms in front of her as she said,
"See the [[Keys]] that cost 50 Years? You should buy one of them! You will need to complete the Main Mission!"
"You are telling me to buy at least one [[Key]], but you are not even telling me what it can do." Alex replied with irritation as he saw Asteria’s salesman-like expression. "Just spit it out."
Even though she looked affronted with Alex talking back at her, Asteria managed to retain her composure as she gave him a reply.
"Those [[Keys]], once you fulfilled the right condition, will bring you on the surface of its corresponding moon!"
"!!!"
Asteria seemed to have ignored the surprised expression on Alex’s face as she continued talking.
"The [[Key of Blue Moon]] will allow you to appear on the surface of the Blue Moon. The [[Key of the Yellow Moon]] will allow you to appear on the surface of the Yellow Moon, while the [[Key of the Green Moon]] and the [[Key of the Red Moon]] will allow you to appear on the surfaces of the Green Moon and Red Moon respectively..."
"Wait a minute." Before Asteria could continue talking with that smug voice of hers, Alex raised his hands as he interrupted her. "You are telling me that for our Main Mission, we have to go at the surface of the moons, and we have to do that with the help of these [[Keys]]?"
"Yeah, that’s right." Asteria replied as she nodded her head sagely. "Think about it. How can you know about the truth about the Calamities if you can’t even go the moons themselves? That’s just preposterous!"
"..." Alex resisted the urge to blow up as he let out a sigh.
Of course what Asteria said made sense, but still, that did not make Alex feel any better.
With all the problems that Alex has to face now, he still had to go to the moon themselves for the Main Missoin?
That’s just too much hassle!
"So, what is the condition that I should fulfill to make the [[Keys]] activate?" Alex asked as he rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Should I make a contract with a monster or something?"
"..."
Before Asteria could give a reply, Alex’s eyes landed on Alina, who was busy draining blood off the goblins that she killed.
"..." As Alex stared at the gathered blood, his mind flashed as he suddenly got the answer to his question earlier.
"Oh, so it’s the blood." Alex murmured before Asteria could talk. "We need to gather blood from the monsters of the Fourth Calamity in order to activate the [[Keys]]... Am I right about that?"
"Exactly." Asteria replied as she suddenly gave Alex a sly look, "However, don’t think that gathering blood will just be this easy! This ain’t preschool, hooman!"
"Huh?" At the instant that Asteria said these words, Alex started to feel an intense sense of foreboding, as he realized what Asteria was talking about.
"You need to gather a drumful of blood from each of the 144 Waves of the Fourth Calamity!" Asteria said as she ignored the groans of protest from Alex. "That means that if you want to activate a [[Key]] to go to the moon, you will have to go through all the 144 waves first... If you don’t do that, you will just be left behind here!"
"That’s... just blatant bullying!" Alex blurted out before he could stop himself. "We have to gather blood from all the 144 waves? Isn’t that just wasting time? Do you want us all to die?"
"Oh don’t worry about that." Asteria replied as she let out a snicker. "The whole 144 waves for the Fourth Calamity will finish coming out before the time limit of the Main Mission. So don’t be worried about the time limit! Just survive the 144 waves and get all the blood that you need there!"
"Ugh..." At that point, all that Alex could do was only moan in defeat as he shook his head morosely.
He already thought that his Main Mission won’t get any more difficult, but after hearing what Asteria said, Alex realized that he was just grasping at straws here.
"...Fine, I already understood what to do with these [[Keys]]." Alex said as he rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Now, tell me all about these [[Essences]]."
"Oh, these [[Essences]]] are just simple." Asteria replied as she tilted her head. "Each of these [[Essences]] correspond to the power of its respective moon, which meant that buying an [[Essence]] will give you the power related to that [[Essence]]!"
"..."
What Asteria just said was painfully simple.
If Alex buys the [[Essence of the Blue Moon]], then Alex will get the power of the Symbolists. Likewise, if Alex buys the [[Essence of the Yellow Moon]], then he will get the power of the Celestials. The same case goes for the other two remaining [[Essences]] too.
This might sound appealing, but its price tag of 30 Years was already enough to dampen Alex’s mood.
"... That’s just unfair." Alex croaked out as he looked at the price of these [[Essences]]. "Is it really worth it to buy them for 30 Years? This is just too much!"
"You don’t understand the potential of these [[Essences]], Alex." Asteria replied as she shook her head quickly. "But with your situation right now, you actually do not have to worry about these [[Essences]] anymore."
"What do you mean by tha- oh." Alex stopped his question as he realized what Asteria was talking about.
"...Since I can just Pillage the skills of the people in this world... There is actually no need for me to buy these [[Essences]] anymore." Alex muttered wryly to himself as he let out a small smile. "Well, even if it is impossible for me to strengthen all the skills that I Pillaged, its fine. At least I don’t have to spend my lifespan to buy skills which I can just Pillage..."
"Tsk. You got lucky that you have a Pillage skill with you." Asteria said as she let out an irritated huff." With that skill, you can just ignore buying the [[Essences]] from the Endless Monarch! Heck, you can just go and defeat the other Travelers and Pillage the [[Essences]] from them! Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a hack!"
"Hehehe... I just got lucky." Alex said as he let out a not-so-humble smile.
"Lucky my ass!" Asteria grumbled as she shook her head profusely. "Let’s see if you can keep that up once the other waves come out!"
"...I’ll keep that in mind." Alex replied as he saw Alina and the others finishing the blood draining of the goblins. "So, how about the remaining items? What can they be used for?"
"For the remaining items, you can just say that those remaining items are supplementary weapons that can increase your power." Asteria replied as she shrugged her shoulders. "You can buy them, but you actually don’t need them to complete the Main Mission. Its up to you on what you want to do with them."
"Hmph." That was all that Alex could say as he stared at the price tags of [[Tome of Divine Might]], [[Pearl of Endless Void]], [[Sword of Indomitable Will]], and [[Tower of Afterlife]].
They also cost 30 Years, which was just enough to make his heart bleed.
"Why are they all expensive? Sigh, I already miss the discounts that I had before..." Alex muttered to himself as he let out a sigh. "Those are the good old days..."
As Alex started to reminisce his past missions like an old man remembering his childhood, Asteria decided to interrupt him with ’official business’.
"Heh, so what do you want to buy now?" Asteria said as she gave Alex a toothy grin. "Remember, it will be better for you if you just buy one [[Key]], and if you can manage it, one of the supplementary items. If you don’t follow that advice, then don’t blame me if you suddenly die on battle later."
"..."
Deep in his heart, Alex distrusted Asteria because of her attitude, but Alex was sure that this time around, Asteria was sincere for her advices to Alex.
Since it was like that, then Alex had no qualms on following Asteria’s advice to him.
"...Fine, I will start buying now." Alex replied as he straightened his body. "But before I buy, let me clarify it to you first. My remaining lifespan is around 55 Years, 4 Months, and 13 days, right?"
"That’s the exact count as of now, hooman." Asteria replied as she nodded her head. "You gained 85 Years as the reward for you finishing the Main Mission in the Superhero World, then you paid 30 Years to get transported to this world. You then spent 1 Month on this world, which leaves you with the lifespan that you just said earlier. "
"That amount is something that just leaves too little possible maneuvers for me." Alex thought to himself as he compared his remaining lifespan with all the items that he can buy.
"Well, screw this. I will just have to depend on the Bonus Missions to buy the other Items. For now, I have to make do with these..." As Alex thought of these, he started to open his mouth as he said,
"Asteria, for now, you should buy..."