Chapter 71 Abyss Runes
After Alex and Alina were able to run away from the scary Divine Knight that they met, Alex decided that they should venture out to the nearest Monster Sector.
Going to a Human Kingdom is not a choice, as they will just most likely be attacked.
After a week of nonstop walking, Alex and his companions reached the next Monster Sector, which was ruled by a giant Treant.
Alina easily tore this Treant into pieces, turning him and Alina as the leaders of this Sector.
Both of them and the little kids then took residence at the middle of the Sector, with Alex using this free time to train.
As for Alina, she spent some time training too, but she spent the remains of her time playing with the little monsters.
*********************
3 weeks later.
"Well at least some of my hard work had paid off." Alex muttered to himself as he observed his body. "Spending most of my time training isn"t a waste."
Contrary to what Alex had believed, his training speed actually got slower once he created his Abyss Core.
Instead of gaining an accelerated growth period after he reached Grade 3, what Alex got was a slight decrease in training speed.
Because of that, even after 3 weeks, Alex was still unable to step into Grade 4.
"Sigh…"
If Grade 3 was all about creating an Abyss Core, Grade 4 was all about engraving Abyss Runes on the body.
The Abyss Core was there to serve as an engine to promote power circulation throughout the whole body.
As for the Abyss Runes, they were there to improve the casting and firing rate of Abyss spells.
These runes will automatically streamline and conserve the use and consumption of Abyss Energy
But unlike the creation of the Abyss Core which requires brute force to create the core, the engraving of the Abyss Runes require skill and precision which Alex unfortunately lacked.
Since the engraving of the Abyss Runes require Alex to do it on himself, Alex had no choice but to be precise as he will be the one to engrave the Runes on his body.
Because of this deficiency, Alex has no choice but to learn the way of precision from the eager Alina.
His training seems to have borne fruit, as Alina just declared earlier that Alex is already free to engrave Abyss Runes on his body.
And to make it better, Alex also found out earlier that the amount of Abyss Energy in his body was also enough to warrant an attempt for him to reach Grade 4.
This means that Alex is free to try reaching Grade 4 right now.
But Alex did not rush to do this right now, as he knew that there is only one attempt for each person to reach Grade 4.
Through some inquiries with his Abyss Tome, Alex discovered that if he messes up a little in the engravement of the Abyss Runes, they can easily cause an explosion that could kill Alex.
"Slow and steady…" Alex muttered to himself as he tried to calm himself down.
A serene and peaceful mind free of distractions is needed to engrave Abyss Runes, and Alex is trying his best to achieve it.
But right now, that endeavor seems to be impossible.
"Receive that!" A jovial voice sounded out, breaking through Alex"s "serene" mindscape.
"Muu... That is too high for me!" A second voice replied, sounding a little affronted and angry.
"Well, you can just use your insects to catch them, right?"
"No! You are still cheating!"
"What the h.e.l.l." Alex opened his eyes as he realized that there is no way for him to be calm now. Distractions are just around him, and he is powerless to stop them.
He looked at the voices that he heard earlier, suppressing his urge to sigh.
"Really, what a drag."
The voices that interrupted Alex came from No. 4 and No. 5.
Both of them were playing volleyball, although the game was somewhat ill-fitted for their physiques.
No. 4 has a body made up of insects, making it hard for her to even move the ball.
As for No. 5, he was a literal skeleton, which meant that he can strike the ball, but his current body made it hard for him to pitch the ball well.
Watching the two intently was Alina, who for some reason, was officiating the game. She was even wearing referee clothes which she could have just pulled out with her powers.
These trio all made their noises in the game, with No. 4 incessant complaints, No. 5 snarky replies, and Alina"s exhausted but also happy retorts.
"Alina, can you tone down whatever that is that you three are doing?" Alex said to Alina as he saw her excited look. "I am doing something important here, you know."
"Well, if we are noisy to you, then you can just go somewhere far, right?" Alina replied as she tilted her head. "These kids are having fun here, and you disrupting them is not good."
"…"
"What?" Alina muttered as she saw Alex"s incomprehensible look. "If you want to get some quiet, go do your stuff somewhere else that is far from us."
"Fine…" Alex mumbled as he shook his head. "You really love those kids now, right?"
"Well, they deserved to be loved."
"..."
Because of Alina"s bonding with the little monsters, they became more and more closer together, managing to make even someone like Alex jealous.
Of course Alex did not show this jealousy, but it was becoming increasingly hard to hide this, with him seeing Alina blatantly siding with the little monsters, just like what happened now.
"I get it that Alina misses her sister, but isn"t her way of making the little monsters her new family seems to be too much?" Alex mumbled as he slithered away from Alina, No. 4, and No. 5.
"You are just jealous that she is not getting lovey-dovey with you… "Someone replied to what Alex said, although the voice that Alex heard from the reply made him frown in annoyance.
"Go away Asteria, I do not need your help in this." Alex said as he tried to swat away Asteria, who was seating on the top of his head.
Just like usual, Asteria was still the insufferable tattlemouth of the group.
"Oooh… it seems like what I said has struck home." Asteria said as she basically gave Alex a sad look. "Are you scared that Alina gets stolen by the kids?"
"Hey! Are you even in your right mind?" Alex almost bellowed as he felt scandalized by what Alina said. "Me, getting scared by those kids? Those honey that you ate must be some kind of drugs that makes you always high!"
"Well, I can tolerate the highs that I get from my honey." Asteria replied off-handedly, as if she already treated Alex" s dilemma earlier as solved. "As long as I eat the right amount, the hallucinations that I get are tolerable."
"What?" At this point, Alex forgot his breakthrough dilemma, or even his slight jealousy of the little monsters. Right now, there is something more important that Alex must tackle.
"Are you telling me that honey is like a drug to you?" Alex said, feeling somewhat disconnected from what he heard. "You are joking, right?"
"Hehehe, got you there." Asteria replied as she stuck out her tongue to the somewhat petrified Alex. "You really think that I, an Honorable Fairy Queen, will get high from something like honey? Of course not!"
"F**k, good thing you are just pranking me!" Alex muttered as he rubbed his chest. "I almost had a heart attack from what you said."
"Eh, really?"
"It"s just a figure of speech, okay? Tsk you should learn some common sense sometimes dumb fairy."
"Bleeh!!!"
"...."
Aside from Alina and the little monsters, Alex"s another dilemma in his training was Asteria herself.
After all, having someone as lackadaisical and obscene as Asteria whispering in your ear was something that was enough to p.i.s.s of anyone, much less someone like Alex.
If not for the fact that Asteria hides behind Alina whenever Alex wanted to catch Asteria, then all of Alex"s sufferings from Asteria could have ended already.
"You will see, I will really punish you someday." Alex swore to himself as he reached his destination.
In front of Alex was a 50-meter tall tree, with its base hollowed out.
One look at the hollowed part and it was enough to see that this place is a good resting spot.
Mult.i.tude of tiny chairs and tables littered around the area, somewhat giving Alex a sense of peace.
Alex entered the hollowed area, with him showing no trepidations at all.
This place was something that Alex made a week ago, in order to find himself a way unwind, away from the chattering little monsters and irritating fairies.
Asteria could have entered along with Alex, but she did not do so as there was something in the tree that was always bothering her.
"Hmph, I really hate this tree!" This is the first thing that Asteria said as Alex entered the tree. "For some reason, I do not want to enter this tree! Urgh! I hate it when this happens! Alex, you are just exploiting my weakness right now!"
"Well, its too bad for you." Alex said as he gave Asteria a smirk. "I do not know why this tree makes you feel bad, but I am using it on full advantage on you."
"Hmph, I really hate you!" This is the parting words that Asteria said as she flew back to where Alina was.
Alex shook his head upon seeing this, knowing that Asteria will be pranking some of the little monsters again.
"Well, with Alina there, I am sure that she can tone Alina down." Alex muttered as he began sitting on one of the chairs. "Oh, and there is that Teresa too. Too bad she still refuses to talk to us."
During their 3-week break, Alex and Alina tried to talk to Teresa, but the only thing that they got from her were her basic info like names and family.
Any more question after that was just met with a glare or with a nonstop shout.
One look at her face, and it was quite obvious that Teresa was unhappy with the both of them.
Alex was highly sure that Teresa heard on what happened with his deal with the golden guy, especially the part where the golden guy had no choice but to leave Teresa behind.
But instead of making Teresa compliant right now, this info just served to make Teresa"s mood worse up to the point that only Alina can talk to her.
"Well, we still have time to talk to her later." Alex muttered to himself as he looked down on his body. "For now, it"s time for me to engrave some runes!"
Just one look at Alex"s face and it is not hard to see that he is ready to go all-out already.