Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 234 Did I do something wrong?

"I said that we will set off to the Blue Moon already." Alex replied as his frail-looking body leaned on the wall while his head was still focused on Astria’s direction. "I don’t care who wants to go or not. Just gather all of them at the open field 2 hours from now, and then we will activate the portal to the Blue Moon. I trust it that you Symbolists would be able to follow that instruction, right?"

Even if Alex looked extremely weak right now, the authoritative presence in his voice made it impossible for Alina and Astria to speak up to him.

The two women gave each other one last glare before they went on their separate ways.

"Ye-yes, I can tell that to them now." Astria said as she nodded her head jerkily. She then spun on her spot, making her wheelchair face the opposite direction.

"Squeak squeak." The classic wheelchair sounds were heard inside the hallway as Astria hastily left the place.

There was no doubt that Astria will talk to her father about the gathering details, especially now that Alex mentioned a time limit.

"..." As Alex’s hollow eyes stared at Astria’s departing silhouette, Alina and Queen Mother could be seen looking at Alex worriedly, which was no surprise considering Alex’s current appearance.

As for Professor Frances, she looked like she was not worried for Alex at all, as she seemed to be more interested on how Alex became like this.

"...Don’t worry about me. This is just the consequence of me overdrafting my biological essences." Alex wearily said as he saw Alina and Queen Mother’s worried gazes. "Just give me a few minutes to recover, and I will be back to normal."

"...You’re telling the truth." Alina muttered as she let out a sigh. "I guess you really got this matter settled."

"Yeah I really got this, so don’t be that worried for me." Alex said as he shrugged his bony shoulders.

As Alex was saying these words, his body could be seen undergoing some changes already.

His thin frame was slowly filling up, and his pale skin was starting to regain its luster, along with the bony ridges of his body starting to disappear.

His hollow and sunken eyes also were regaining a bit of glow on them, and his laborious breaths were starting to sound less strained.

Of course these changes were gradual, but Alina and Queen Mother could see that Alex can really indeed recover within a few minutes.

So with that concern out of the way, Alina immediately tackled the next thing that she is curious about.

"So Alex... how did your evolution go? Was it a success?"

"Well..." After hearing Alina’s query, Alex cupped his chin as he seemed to be contemplating on how he should answer her. Only after he saw Alina’s glare at him that he continued to talk.

"My evolution process, although excruciatingly painful, had definitely succeeded." Alex said with a tone of finality on his voice. "Right now, I’m not just a creepy tentacle monster anymore. I’m something... that is much more than that."

"Well, that is a cheerful answer in all sense." Alina slowly replied as she looked relieved right now. Her tense shoulders had dropped down as she let out a deep breath, making her anxious look fade away to nothingness. "Since you are alright now, then I think we should talk about the-"

But before Alina could say her next words, she was cut-off by an enthusiastic voice behind her.

"Show it to us now! I want to see it!" Professor Frances interjected behind Queen Mother as her whole body leaned forward. "Show us your evolved form! I bet it is epic!"

Professor Frances’ face was covered in excitement, with her eyes solely concentrated on Alex’s body.

"..." Alex, who was the sole recipient of her gaze, could only shiver a little as he slightly backed away from her.

"Well, sorry, but I cannot show you my new form right now." Alex replied as he shook his head. "It will not be worth it."

"Why not?"

"First, an enemy could be spying on us right now." Alex said as he raised his right index finger. "Even if the Grand Symbolist is near us, there is still a chance that someone skilled could be looking at our conversation right now. The risk of me showing my new form will not be that worth it."

"..."

"Second, I am still recovering right now, so transforming to my evolved form is a big no-no yet." Alex said as he raised his right middle finger. "Right now, my cells are still busy on recovering from the trauma that they experienced, so putting any more stress on them will not be good. "

"....That’s disappointing." Professor Frances said as she let out a disgruntled sigh. "If you can’t show us your evolved form now, then when can you show it?"

"You will see it once we go to the Blue Moon." Alex said with an assured tone in his voice. "We will go there 2 hours from now, so my cells will surely be at their peak state at that point. Aside from that, I think that spying on us on the Blue Moon will be difficult too. Combine those two factors together, and I am certain that I will be free to assume my evolved form there at the Blue Moon."

After hearing Alex’s reply, Professor Frances curled her lips, but she did not say anything after that.

She only gave Alex a small nod as he moved back again to her previous spot.

"...So what were you saying Alina?"

"Well, I’m curious on why suddenly decided to go to the Blue Moon later." Alina replied as she looked at Alex warily. "I thought that we will only go there tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, since we still need to rest from all the stress that we have...."

Alina did not continue her words, but Alex could understand what Alina was getting to.

Why would Alex force everyone to go to the Blue Moon, when they can just rest first and just go there tomorrow? What Alex was doing right now regarding the portal travel was just irrational!

"Alina... if it was me, I would have definitely preferred to go to the Blue Moon tomorrow." Alex replied as his body, which was now 30 % recovered, started to stand up straight. "However, my mind has changed after what had happened earlier when I finished my evolution."

"..."

"At the moment that I finished my evolution, [Asteria] suddenly appeared in front of me. She then gave me a message which seems to have come from the Endless Monarch himself."

"Wait, [Asteria] suddenly appeared in front of you? I thought she was supposed to be sleeping inside our storage right now?" Alina incredulously muttered as she tilted her head in confusion.

"That’s what I thought so too, but I really saw [Asteria] suddenly appearing in front of me." Alex replied as he shook his head wearily.

"So what is the message given to you?"

"Its hard to say it exactly right now, so I will just tell you the gist. Basically speaking, [Asteria] told me that now that all of the Travelers have gained the qualifications to go to the Moons, the pathway to go to the Moons will open 2 hours from now, and the Keys that we have right now shall be our way to enter these pathways." Alex said as he rubbed the back of his head, which was now starting to grow back its hair. "[Asteria] also told me that the pathway will only remain open for a minute, so later is really our only chance to go. If you miss it, then you will be doomed to be left behind here."

"...That is indeed a good reason for us to rush right now." Alina replied as she cupped her chin. "That just means that we have to prepare everything that we can for 2 hours, and make sure that we miss nothing useful, am I right?"

"Exactly." Alex replied as he nodded his head. "We should bring everything that we could, as in my opinion, what will happen later at the moons will be the main event of our Main Mission. We can’t afford to be unprepared!"

"We got it!"

"Okay, so Professor Frances and Queen Mother. Gather all the alchemy and bio-sculpting components that you can use and place it inside Alina’s Storage." Alex said as he started to command his Companions. "As for you Alina, once you have pocketed those materials, you should go and talk to Kiera and her grandfather. Tell them that I will be bringing Kiera with me to the Blue Moon, and also tell them that nothing can stop me from doing that."

"...Are you sure about brining Kiera along?" Alina worriedly asked Alex as she gave him a narrow stare. "Won’t she be in danger if we bring her with us?"

"From what I can see right now, it will be beneficial for Kiera if she goes with us." Alex replied as he let out another sigh. "You have seen what her powers can do, right?"

"...If you will look at it at that angle, then I suppose that you are right." Alina begrudgingly replied as she nodded her head.

"We already did everything that we can to bring out Kiera’s power. We even sought the help of Nero and Astria about their knowledge regarding the Red Moon power recipients. But even with that, the results that we got are substantial." Alex said as he shook his head. "And if you will observe Kiera closely, you can see that her life was being affected by the power dwelling inside her! If we don’t do anything about it, her life will be in real jeopardy!"

"And you think that bringing her to the Blue Moon will help her?"

"Well, since we are going to a Moon, then there’s high chance that her power might react there." Alex replied as he shrugged his shoulders. "But if her power does not react there, then we will just go to the Red Moon and see how she will fare there."

"Wait Alex, you are planning to go to the Red Moon after the Blue Moon?" Alina blurted out as he peered at Alex with incredulity. "Are you sure that it is possible? Didn’t you hear from [Asteria] earlier that the only way that we can go to the Moons was through the pathway 2 hours later? Once we go to the Blue Moon, won’t our path to the Red Moon be closed off already?

"Alina, Alina, Alina, you seem to underestimate the prowess of our group." Alex replied as he shook his head. "With my plans and your capabilities, we can do anything!"

"So... you already have a plan regarding that?"

"Of course I have!" Alex replied confidently as he puffed out his chest. "Would you like to know what it is?"

"..."

If anyone will look at Alex right now, they will only feel irritation, as the smug smile and the knowing look on his eyes was just too much to look at.

It was as if Alex has just found a great toy and he was itching to boast about it on his friends.

"What? I’m still waiting for your reply..." Alex said as he looked expectantly at his Companions. "Come on, don’t you want to hear about my new plan?"

"...Yeah sure, that’s great." Professor Frances muttered sullenly behind Queen Mother as her light grumbles could be heard. "Since you already have one of your ’Master Plan’ again, then maybe we stupid people can do our menial tasks already. Surely our brains can handle the strain of foraging materials... After all, we were born originally as foragers..."

"Hey wait-"

"See you later Alex." Alina, Queen Mother, and Professor Frances all said as they walked away from Alex, with their footsteps resounding across the walls. "Just tell us about your special plan later!"

Alex, who was left behind, could only tilt his head in confusion as he stared at the backs of his departing Companions.

"Did I say something wrong?"