[Bonus Mission Achieved. 50 Years of Lifespan and 1 Bonus Reward is available now.] Asteria declared on top of Alex as she landed back on his head.

"Now that's a good thing to hear…" Alex muttered to himself as he looked at the devastation caused by their fight.

The ground all around them was pulverized, as the appearance of the trees directly broke off the top of the mountain.

Even right now, Alex could see large pieces of the mountain tumbling down to its base.

Alex was not sure why, but the sight of these rock pieces falling to the ground was like music to his ears.

"You… what really are you?" The old man, who still seemed shaken by what Alex did, pointed another finger at Alex as he uttered these words. "Your power… it's not something that had been used by any of the Three Factions before!"

"Well, aren't you knowledgeable." Alex replied as he tilted his head. "Old man, if you really are just a poor man, then can you explain to me on how you seem to know a lot regarding the Three Factions themselves? You even recognized that one of the Symbolists that I captured was an important person! Hmm… very suspicious…"

The old man's eyes immediately narrowed after hearing what Alex said, with suspicion evident on his face.

"Are you threatening me?" The old man uttered with gritted teeth as he took a step back from Alex. "With that power that you have, you resort to actually threatening me?"

"No, I am not threatening you." Alex replied as he shook his head. "I am just reminding you that everyone of us have a secret to keep, and none of us would be happy if our secrets were blurted out, right?"

"…" The old man went silent and observed Alex for a few seconds before letting out a sigh.

"Ok, I won't tell anyone about what I saw." The old man said as he bowed in front of Alex. "As long as you don't tell anyone about me, I won't blab about you."

"There, there, at least we reached an understanding now." Alex replied merrily as he let out a laugh.

"…"

After this awkward and tense conversation, Alex whistled a little as he approached the old man. He then patted the old man's shoulder as he said,

"Now that we have fixed that issue, let's talk about where we will go next."

"Where we will go next? Wait, WE? Are you saying that…" As the old man's eyes widened in realization, Alex gripped the old man's shoulders as he said,

"Yes we will go with you two. I realized that with everything that happened here, you two joining us will be better. Oh, and don't try to deny us. You already know that right now, it will be only us that can protect you and your granddaughter. You won't be that idiotic to pass up a secure protection like this, right?"

The old man visibly hesitated at Alex's words, but that hesitation only lasted for a few seconds before his body started to sag in defeat.

"Tsk, then do what you want to do. Just… remember that if you have nefarious thoughts about Kiera, you will have to step over my body first!" In the end, this was the old man's reply to Alex. "Remember, I will be watching…"

"...Yeah, yeah, I will take note of that." Alex replied breezily as he waved his hands. "I will watch out for your beady eyes…"

"You're not taking this seriously, young lad."

"I am, my face just doesn't display it…"

"Tsk, youngsters these days! They always think they got the spunk!"

"If you're talking about spunk, then you're free to fight against Queen Mother's trees. Surely, you have some spunk to take them on, right?"

"…"

*************

The whole 'glowing red' process that Kiera underwent lasted for 10 more minutes, and it was only when this time was reached that Kiera's body lost its glow.

"Ahh!" The little girl let out a shout as her body turned back to normal, with her stubby legs moving on the ground.

She immediately ran to her grandfather, who hugged Kiera with a bone-crushing hug.

"Waah!!!" Unsurprisingly, the little girl cried while hugging her grandfather, showing how scared she had been with her ordeal earlier.

Both Alina and Queen Mother tried to console Kiera, but Alex stopped them, which allowed the old man and the little girl to have some time alone.

"Waahh!!!"

"Kiera, don't be scared, grandpa's here for you." The old man said as he let out some cooing sounds, with his hand patting the little girl's back. "Don't worry, I will protect you just like what I used to do before, ok?"

"Ok…" Kiera replied as she hastily the tears on her face. "I… I trust you grandpa!"

"There, that's what you should think, Kiera." The old man said as he patted Kiera's head. "But this time, it's not only me who will protect you. That tentacle guy and your two big sisters will protect you too. So, don't cry now, and just continue smiling, ok?"

"Ok!" This time, the smile that appeared on Kiera's face was exuberant, even when her face was stained with her tears.

"Ok, now that you have dealt with that, it's time for us to talk about other stuff here." Alex said as he clapped his hands, which ended the conversation between the little girl and the old man.

The old man glared at Alex a little, while Kiera looked at Alex with an awed look on her eyes.

"Big bro, you have powers! You're so cool!" Kiera said as her gaze landed on the tentacles decorating Alex's back. "And your tentacles look tasty…"

"…Yeah I'm cool, but my tentacles are not fit for consumption." Alex awkwardly replied as he gave Kiera a strained smile. "But talking about powers, shouldn't you have a power too, since you suddenly glowed red earlier?"

"…" After Alex asked this question, the little girl tilted her head, as she seemed to be trying to find the right way to answer Alex.

In the end, Kiera let out a shrug as she said,

"Big Bro, I can feel a large ball inside my body right now! The ball is so big, Big Bro! She was this large!" Kiera then waved her hands above her, as she tried to show how large the ball was. "But Big Bro, no matter what I do, she won't budge… I can't even play with her…"

Kiera then visibly deflated, looking extremely saddened about what she said. "I want to play with her, Big Bro. Does she hate me?"

"Wait, you call that large ball a SHE? How do you even know that is has a gender?" Of course, instead of consoling the little girl, Alex went straight to asking more questions about her powers. "Is it a female?"

"No! I just want to call her a girl!" Kiera replied as he pouted at Alex. "Big Bro, is it bad that I did that?"

"Well, not really." Alex replied as he cupped his chin. "I just needed to know everything about that ball, since your power's obviously related to that ball."

"Umm…" The little girl then opened her mouth, as she seemed to be thinking of more things to say to Alex, but before she could start talking, her grandfather approached them.

"Ok, since Kiera said that that's all that she can do, then you don't need to ask her more questions." The old man interjected before Alex could continue asking. "Kiera needs some rest right now, so if you want to ask her questions, just do it later."

"Oh of course, she needs to rest too." Alex replied absent-mindedly as he nodded his head. "She went through a lot today, so she deserves some good sleep."

"…"

The old man did not comment on Alex's listless reply as he lifted Kiera and rocked her left and right with his hands.

In no time at all, the little girl was asleep, with her using the old man's arms as a cradle.

"…" Alex could not help but get touched with what he saw, realizing that the old man and the little girl definitely cared for each other.

After looking at the duo for 10 more seconds, Alex let out a sigh, shaking his head as he headed towards the special sacs.

Now that Alex was done making a deal with the old man and the little girl, it was time for him to deal with the next important thing.

"Alex, this is not the time to get sentimental." Alex muttered to himself as he stopped in front of the special sacs. "There's still these guys here! There's no way that I can just ignore them, right?"

*****************

10 minutes later.

"So, how is their resistance to your Mind Scour going?" Alex asked Alina as the latter could be seen using her Dark Magic on the captured Symbolists.

Alina's eyes were furrowed in intense concentration, as if she was straining to use all of her power.

"Alex, their mental prowesses were really off the charts." Alina said as she let out a sigh. "Their bodies might be weak, but their minds were just at a different level."

"So, even your Mind Scour can't read their minds?" Alex warily asked as he looked at Alina.

Just like Alex, Alina's Dark Magic in this world has been enhanced by 5 times, so Alex thought that maybe Alina's Mind Scour can bypass the mental defenses by the captured Symbolists.

But as it turns out, it may not be just as simple as that.

"It was difficult for me to read all of their thoughts, but I managed to get some superficial information." Alina replied as she massaged her forehead. "I think that the information that I got was enough to give us an explanation of this world."

"Hit us with your explanations then." Alex said with Queen Mother hovering just behind Alex.

"Ok…" Alina then let out a deep breath as she told Alex about the Legend of the Four Moons, the Calamities related to it, and the basic information about the Symbolists, Celestials, and the Devourers.

"Now I see…" Alex muttered to himself as he cupped his chin. "Now I understand why the Three Factions does not dare to kill those who gets power from the Red Moon…Whether they like it or not, they will need all the power that they can to survive the Fourth Calamity. So, making the members of Fourth Faction as slaves really is the best choice for them here…"

"Alina's information also explains why mental-based attacks against the Symbolists does not work well against them." Queen Mother muttered behind Alex as she looked at the captured Symbolists. "Since their power comes from their mind, it was inevitable for their mental state to be extremely strong. If it were not for the 5 times enhancement on your Monster Abilities, I doubt that you two will be able to affect their minds earlier…"

"…" Alex had no comment on that, as he found Queen Mother's analysis to be true.

Of course it was not only the Symbolists that Alex had info too.

From the info that Alina had, Alex discovered that the Celestials, whose power relies on Stellar Essence(Essence of the Stars), had attacks and defensive abilities that rely on this Essence. Their mental and physical states were balanced, and the one thing that they were better than the other two factions were their esoteric abilities derived from their Stellar Essence.

As for the Devourers, they have extremely strong bodies but extremely weak minds, making them a polar opposite of the Symbolists.

"So, what should we do with these guys?" Alina suddenly asked Alex, breaking off Alex's line of thoughts. "Do we kill them or do we…"

"Alina, you don't need to ask anymore, for I already have an idea." Alex said as the all-too familiar glint appeared on his eyes. "Let me deal with this."

"Oh great, now we're about to see some of his crazy plans again." The dumb fairy Asteria muttered on top of Alex's head. "What is it this time? Will you take one of their powers, then pretend to be one of them? If that is your plan, then I applaud you! That's a very original plan!"

"…"