Chapter 84
Asteria tilted her head as she gave Alex a sly smile . "So, you are going that route huh . "
"Well, this is the best thing that I can do for now . " Alex shrugged as he continued on flopping down on the bed . "Oh now that I noticed it, this bed smells real good . . . "
"Ew, what a creep . " Asteria muttered to herself as she touched the symbol on Alex's forehead .
"Um Asteria…" Alex slowly said as he saw Asteria about to do her job . "Can you make the appearance of the Tome less flashy? I don't want the Divine Knight to sense anything weird…"
"Ok ok…" Asteria replied quickly as she gave Alex an irritated look . "I am about to do that, and you just ruined it by telling me that I should do it…"
"Oh . " Alex said, not understanding why Asteria was angry again . "Go on then . "
"… . . " This time there was only a slight glow, as another old book appeared in front of Alex .
This time the book had a huge, gaping mouth in its cover, complete with serrated teeth and dripping drool .
Alex slightly recoiled upon seeing this, immediately not liking what he was seeing .
What made his distaste worse was the fact that there was a 12-inch long tongue lolling out from the mouth, and it was doing its very best to lick Alex .
"Ugh, this is the Abyss Tome: Greed? I thought it will look like something cool . . . " Alex muttered to himself as he gingerly touched the book .
At the instant that he touched it, the book turned into particulates which entered Alex's body .
Alex closed his eyes as he slowly assimilated the contents of the Tome with his mind .
He opened his eyes a minute later, feeling more rejuvenated than before .
"Ok, 2 down, 5 more to go in the future…" Alex muttered to himself as he checked out his body .
"So, how do you feel now, Alex?" Asteria inquired as she flopped on top of his head . "Do you feel the urge to steal something or just wreck lives?"
"Huh? No!" Alex hotly replied as she gave Asteria a glare . "I am not feeling anything like that! Wait, are you expecting that to happen to me?"
"Of course not!" This time it was Asteria who looked offended . "I was just joking, ok? Tsk, can't you even take a joke?"
"I am always wary as long as you do something to me . " Alex replied as he shook his head wryly . "After all, you seem serious on making me miserable…"
"That is just what you think, you paranoid hooman . " Asteria angrily replied as she placed her hands on her hips . "Hey, instead of bickering with me, why don't you go and check out what you got?"
"Right, right…" Alex said as he began to inspect his new Tome .
" . . . Ok, that is weird . " The longer that Alex inspected his Tome, the more that he realized that Abyss Tome: Greed was actually unique .
Unlike Abyss Tome: Envy, Abyss Tome: Greed does not have many spells in it . It only had one spell, which can be considered to be just an auxiliary spell in a sense .
This spell is called Pillage, and it comprises all the abilities that Alex gets from the Abyss Tome: Greed .
What the Pillage Spell does is just simple . It allows the user to steal all the power of his/her target .
Once stolen, the user can keep the stolen power, or they can give back the stolen power to its original owner .
Now, this may sound unfair, but there are two limitations on it .
>>>First Limitation<<<
[[[The spell Pillage can only be used on targets with lower power level than the user . ]]]
This just means that Alex cannot use Pillage on targets that are much more powerful than him .
Alex cannot use Pillage on any Divine Knight, as they are much more powerful than Alex .
But if Alex's target was something like a Grade 1 Monster Rabbit, then he can easily pillage its power .
>>>Second Limitation<<<
[[[There is a limit on the amount of Powers that can be Pillaged . It is not unlimited . ]]]
This means that Alex cannot just Pillage numerous amounts of power to himself . There is still a limit to the amount of powers that he can steal .
The total amount of powers that Alex can pillage is determined by the Grade of Abyss Tome: Greed that Alex is in right now .
The number of Grades will equate to the number of Slots that can hold in pillaged powers .
One Grade means one Slot for powers .
Reaching Grade 1 will unlock 1 Slot, Grade 2 will unlock 2 Slots, and so on and so forth .
Right now, Alex is:
{{{Grade 1 in Abyss Tome: Greed}}}
{{{Grade 4 in Abyss Tome: Envy . }}}
Since the slots will only depend on the Grade of Abyss Tome: Greed, Alex currently had only 1 Slot for Pillage .
This means that the number of powers that he can pillage amounts to a maximum of only 1 power .
This still looks limited, but Alex was fairly confident with what he can get .
Right now, Alex's list of stolen powers looks like this:
[Grade 1 Slot] ——– Empty Slot, needs to Pillage power .
[Grade 2 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 2 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 3 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 3 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 4 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 4 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 5 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 5 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 6 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 6 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 7 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 7 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 8 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 8 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 9 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 9 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 10 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 10 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 11 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 11 Abyss Energy to access .
[Grade 12 Slot] ——– Needs Grade 12 Abyss Energy to access .
By looking at this list, Alex realized that once he reaches Grade 12, the maximum amount of Slots that he can get is 12 Slots .
This is somewhat an enticing number, but Alex knew that it will still take him a long time to reach Grade 12, so he had to make do with 1 slot for now .
But even with the restrictions on the Pillage Spell, Alex knew that he can have a great time using Pillage, as he only needed to find the right people to Pillage from .
And right now, there is someone that Alex was willing to try it on .
"Teresa had always been weaker than my power, even in our first meeting . Since her total power level is lower than mine, then it just means that I can Pillage her abilities for myself!"
This is the master plan of Alex that will allow him to pretend as Teresa perfectly .
By using Pillage on the much weaker Teresa, Alex can temporarily take all of her Golden Knight Abilities for himself .
Once he did that, Alex will just have to use these abilities tomorrow, and that will surely fool the Divine Knight perfectly .
Of course Alex will not take Teresa's Golden Knight Power for long .
He will return Teresa's powers once he and Alina leaves this world .
He will return all of it, without a single drop withheld .
After all, Alex knew that Teresa was a decent person, so leaving her powerless forever is not just right for him .
So technically speaking, what Alex will do is to just 'borrow' Teresa's power . He will also return it once he was done using it .
"Time to look at her then . " Alex muttered to himself as he closed his eyes in concentration .
With the way that Alex appeared right now, it seemed like he was busy looking for something, and indeed, he was looking for something .
"Found it . "
One second later, and he found out what he was looking for .
He felt the connection that he was looking for, and he used it to access what he wanted .
"Woosh~" Alex found himself looking at a large space, with objects and people inside it .
This large space was Alina's Space Storage, which was created when she combined her Esper and Monster Abilities together .
This is where Alina usually stores everything that she owns, including some living objects .
Since this was Alina's ability, it should have been only her who can access it .
But Alex was able to plead Alina to allow him access to her Storage too, and here he is, looking at the contents of Alina's Space Storage .
"This is impressive . " Alex muttered to himself, as he realized that he was able to access Alina's Storage Space even when he and Alina were hundreds of kilometers away from each other .
"With this storage accessible for both of us, we can easily use this storage to send messages to each other . " Alex thought to himself as he began to write a letter addressed to Alina .
He then left this letter inside the Space Storage, knowing that Alina will find and read it later .
"Ok, now that I am done with the letter, its time for me to see the real attraction in this place . " Alex muttered as he looked at the only living beings inside the Space Storage, who were all staring at him .
"Yo, wassup . " Alex said as he looked at Teresa, Carlie, and the 5 little monsters, all looking at Alex with surprise .
"Hello!" The 5 little monsters have been all traine- taught by Alina to treat Alex well . Because of that, they greeted him politely as they saw him . They were even unfazed with his current disguise .
As for Carlie, she was only silent, with her body still recuperating from her injuries .
Alex actually found it hard to believe that someone like Carlie could just stay calm in her situation . With the way that she attacked them before, Alex thought that she was someone who will trash out just to escape .
But that was not had happened . Carlie just stayed quiet, and she did not do anything threatening or worrying .
Alex had a suspicion that Carlie was all like this because of Alina whispering something on Carlie's ear a week ago .
" . . . " Alex was not sure what Alina said to Carlie a week ago, but it was somewhat enough to make Carlie stay like this in the Storage .
If Carlie and the 5 little monsters were subdued and calm, the remaining person surely not is .
"F**k you!" This is Teresa's only reply as she glared at Alex . "Once I get out here, I will make sure that I will-"
"Oh, just zip your mouth, ok?" Alex said as he gestured Teresa to shut up . "You had been cursing me already since you saw my disguise . Am I really that bad to you?"
"Creep! Pervert! Pedo!" Teresa said venomously as spit flew out of her mouth . "I won't forgive you for taking my face and preventing to be Father's daughter!"
"Well, I had to do some things, and this is the best disguise that I can use . " Alex said as he shrugged his shoulders .
"You motherfu-"
"We had an agreement 3 days ago, right?" Alex suddenly said as he looked down at the livid Teresa . "In that agreement, you allowed me to use this disguise of yours, and to take your powers temporarily too . Surely, you are not reneging on that agreement?"
"Tsk!" Teresa gritted her teeth, as she looked like she had been cornered . "F**king agreement, if I only did not need both of your help, then I would not have joined in that agreement!"
"Hehehe too bad for you, you already did . " Alex said as he placed the matter of their agreement with Teresa at the back of his mind .
The agreement that he and Alina made with Teresa was a tightly-guarded secret, so much so that Alex forced himself to not think about it just to maintain its secrecy .
"…Fine . " Teresa sullenly replied, as her temper seemed to have cooled off as she deflated a little . "Stupid agreement!"
"… . . "
"… . . "
Both of them then stayed silent, with both of them waiting for the other to talk .
It was Teresa who broke off the silence, looking at Alex with narrowed eyes .
"Tentacle guy…" Teresa mumbled as she let out a soft sigh . Her voice was currently soft, as her anger seemed to have entirely disappeared . "I do not need to guess it anymore, you are here to 'borrow' my powers already, right?"
"Touche . " Alex replied as he nodded his head . "Are you ready now?"
"I am not, so please just get done with it . " Teresa replied curtly as he closed her eyes in exasperation . "I still have to sleep, so just do it now . "
" . . . "