Chapter 337 Rejected!!!
"…I thought you had them convinced earlier." Alina, whose face seemed to be full of weariness, said as she stared at Alex, who was sitting beside her.
"Hey, I just tried to alleviate the stiuaiton." Alex replied defensively. "And for a second, I thought it worked."
"Yes, we thought it worked." Alina replied as she shook her head. "But…"
"But instead of letting us roam around freely, those guys put us in house arrest." Alex said as he looked around him.
"At least it was just a house arrest." Alina muttered as she let out a sigh. "If they decided to kill us earlier, bloodshed will surely occur."
"…"
Right now, Alex and Alina were back at their house, as they were "judged" by the TimeMasters to be unfit to help them out.
Instead of letting Alex and Alina join them, the TImeMasters had elected to just keep Alex and Alina trapped inside their house.
Of course, Alex can try to resist against this decision, but he did not do it, as he just allowed it to happen.
"Alex… are you really fine with these people pus.h.i.+ng us around?" Alina asked Alex as she glared at him.
Alina seemed to be a little unsatisfied with Alex"s att.i.tude, and her face made it quite obvious that she was having seconds thoughts about their current status as "house prisoners".
"…" Although Alex felt wronged as he saw Alina"s glare, he kept his mouth closed as he did not reply to her question.
"Even if we know that Kiera, Annie, and the old man are most likely unharmed, we still should do something to look for them." Alina continued saying as Alex did not say anything to her. "Do you think we can look for them while we are in house arrest? Do you think we can save them if you just let those TImeMasters roll over you easily?"
"Alina, even if we can find Kiera and Annie, do you think we have a chance to save them now?" Alex replied as he suddenly let out a sigh. "You should have seen that giant earlier. Just that giant alone made it hard for us to rescue Annie and Kiera."
"…"
"And do you really think that a rebel group who obviously planned this operation for a very long time will only have that giant as their weapon?" Alex continued talking as he pressed on with his words. "Hmph, of course they will have other weapons and items prepared for their plan on Annie!"
"…"
"If we attempt to look for Annie and Kiera right now, we won"t be able to do anything useful." Alex said as he shook his head. "With our current power level, it will be hard for us to make an impact. Even the TImeMasters will have a hard time saving them. But that will all depend if we can even find Kiera and Annie. From the way those rebels talked earlier, they made it quite clear that they were confident on hiding Annie until the day of the ritual…"
"…So Alex, you just accepted the fact that we can"t do anything right now."
"Exactly." Alex replied as he nodded his head.
"…"
Although Alex"s words were certainly heavy, his words seemed to be laced with cheerfulness, which was a stark contrast on their current situation.
He was even smiling, which made Alina furrow her eyes in confusion.
"Alex… why do you still sound cheerful with all of these happening?" Alina could not help but ask this question as she saw Alex"s somewhat odd smile. "Don"t tell me you have planned something else right now?"
"Heh, of course I have a plan right now." Alex replied confidently as he took a deep breath.
Alina just blinked her eyes as she waited for Alex to continue his answer.
"Whooo…"
After staying still for a few seconds, Alex forcefully exhaled all of this inhaled air as he said,
"Since our power is not yet enough, we should find a way to strengthen ourselves during this house arrest." Alex said as he straightened his body.
"Strengthen ourselves?"
"While the TImeMasters will do their best to look for Annie, Kiera, and the old man, we will use our time here to increase our power." Alex slowly said as his eyes let out a sly glint. "We can use any method that we can use for this one-week period, as long as it will increase our power. And while we do all that, Queen Mother and Professor Frances will be rapidly building our army, which will also be a great a.s.set for our mission…"
This is the best thing that Alex can hope to do right now.
Since the TImeMasters are keeping them here, then Alex and Alina will just have to use these free time to strengthen themselves, while the TImeMasters will do the job of looking for Annie and the others.
And just like what Alex mentioned, Queen Mother and Asteria will have their needed time to raise their army, which will just make their team"s power standing in this world higher.
No matter which way one looked at this, it"s a definitely win-win situation for Alex and his Companions!
"Alex! As expected, you really thought this through..." Alina replied as she let out wry smile. "But are you confident that we can reach a level of power that we need in just 7 days?"
"Well, it depends on what we plan to do." Alex replied as he took a deep breath again. "Should we strengthen our weak powers, or should we strive to make a breakthrough with our stronger powers?"
"If we focus on strengthening our weak powers, we can certainly make some progress with them, although its benefits could not be enough for us." Alina said as she cupped her chin. "For example…. Even if you manage to strengthen your Temperature Control during these 7 days, we are not sure if that can really help you out..."
"On the other hand, making a breakthrough with our stronger powers will surely be a great boost to us…" Alex muttered as he weary smile appeared on his face. "But can we really make a breakthrough with our stronger powers in just 7 days? Can I make my Abyss Magic, Mental Energy, or my Conqueror"s Aura reach Stage 6? Or how about your Mental Energy and your Dark Magic too? Can they also make a breakthrough in just 7 days?"
"…"
"…"
Both Alex and Alina then went silent as they were stumped by this dilemma.
Should they focus on their weaker powers, or should they just risk it all with their stronger powers?
Choosing the former might be not enough, while choosing the latter will just be too dangerous.
"Sigh… if there"s just a sure fire method that can raise our power directly in just one night…" Alina exclaimed aloud as she let out a loud sigh. "If there"s something like that, our mission will surely be easier."
"Well, I have a good suggestion…" Alex slowly said as an excited smile appeared on his face. "We can-"
"Alex, are you talking about dual cultivation again?" Alina coldly said as she cut-off Alex"s words.
"Well yeah…"
"Alex, you…" Alina slowly kneaded her forehead as she let out an exasperated sigh. "You do know what you are talking about, right?"
"Of course I know…" Alex slowly replied as he gave Alina fawning smile. "You know the stories about the people who dual cultivate. With just one night of pa.s.sion, both the partic.i.p.ants of dual cultivation will have their power skyrocket! So if we dual cultivate now, we will surely reach a higher level!"
Instead of agreeing or disagreeing with Alex, Alina only stared at Alex intently for a few seconds.
When Alex was about to feel uncomfortable, Alina let out another sigh as she said,
"Alex, let me get this straight. Are you only interested on dual cultivating with me because of the power gains involved?"
"Well duh. That"s the purpose of dual cultivation." Alex said as he shrugged his shoulders. "It"s for strengthening our power…"
"If that is your answer to me, then my answer to your request is No." Alina replied as the s.p.a.ce around her started to tremble.
"W-what? But-"
"If you only want to dual cultivate with me for power, then you should leave my room right now." Alina said as her angry gaze at Alex increased in intensity.
"What do you mea-oh. Oh." At that point, Alex, who was about to explain himself, realized his mistake. "Wait Alina, I-"
"Alex, I know that you are in love with me, and I also feel the same way with you." Alina said as she averted her gaze away form Alex. "Frankly speaking, we are already in a relations.h.i.+p, so doing things like dual cultivation can be considered a norm…"
"But if you only want to dual cultivate with me for power, then just forget about it." Alina continued speaking as her whole body started to tremble.
"I…"
"Alex, I know that right now, you are obsessed with getting stronger." Alina said as she interrupted Alex again. "I know that your obsession to get stronger is acceptable, since we are all in danger right now. But really? You are letting that obsession even affect your mindset! You actually wanted to dual cultivate with me just for power reasons? How about your feelings? How about mine? Did you just conveniently forget about them?"
"…" Alex was unable to find any proper reply to that, as he knew that he just f**ked up with his answer.
"This is the problem with you Alex. You usually treat everything as a way to increase your power." Alina.s.said with melancholy as she shook her head. "Everything that you do, even the way that you eat food or interact with us are always oriented for your "training"! Do you know how that kind of behavior can easily ruin you?"
"…"
"I originally planned to let you keep your "strengthening" att.i.tude for longer, as it was not damaging you yet. But you just exceeded my patience right now! You actually dared to "make love" with me just for increasing your power? Is your mind still in the right place?"
"…"
"Alex, even if we are in a relations.h.i.+p right now, as long as you will not fix your att.i.tude, you will never be able to become a genuinely strong person…" Alina said with finality as she crossed her arms. "You want to get strong, right? Then do everything with the right mindset! Don"t just treat them as training!"
"…" Even if Alina"s words were quite frankly, sharp and ruthless, Alex was unable to refute any of them, as he realized that she was right.
"Well Alina… Your words had enlightened me on my mistakes, so I promise to be more sincere now." Alex hesitantly said as he glanced at Alina warily. "Umm… I know that I am really in the wrong here. So can you forgive me now?"
"Hmph, do you think you can just change your mindset after that? I don"t think so." Alina harshy replied as she shot Alex down. "If you really want to forgive me, then go meditate on your mistakes on the couch!"
"The couch? But-"
"And while you are there, you can attempt to fuse your 5 powers together." Alina said as she gave Alex no chance to explain himself. "Didn"t you say that you can combine your 5 Major Powers, since they are inside your body? So instead of dual cultivating with me, maybe you can just focus on your 5-power fusion…"
"!!!" After hearing what Alina just said, Alex"s eyes widened as he mulled about Alina"s words.
Alex had indeed mentioned the possibility of fusing his 5 powers to Alina before.
But the difficulty of doing this was extremely high, that Alex did not consider this in his plans for now.
Even Alina knew the dangers and difficulty of achieving the 5-power fusion state.
So for Alina to recommend the 5-power fusion over dual cultivation just shows how p.i.s.sed she is right now.
"Yeah, a 5-power fusion is nice, but-"
"I said that you are sleeping in the couch tonight. Got any complaints?"
"Nothing, mam."
"Good. Now scram!"
"…"