"…Only the Key of the Blue Moon." Alex concluded as he gritted his mouth in dissatisfaction. "As for the other Items, I will only buy them once I gather enough lifespan from Bonus Missions…"

"Heh, good luck increasing your lifespan then." Asteria replied with relish as she started pulling out an object from Alex's forehead.

"Hong~"

At the instant that this object appeared, Alex's surroundings started to tremble, as if the object that came out was something that warranted this kind of entrance.

As the ground continued on trembling under his feet, Alex did not waste time as he stared at the object that was now held by Asteria.

It was a blue key which was the size of Alex's index finger.

This blue key was currently glowing with the same blue glow as the Blue Moon in the skies. Aside from this glow, Alex also noticed that Asteria seems to have some difficulty carrying the blue key.

"Give that to me." Alex said as he snatched the key away from Asteria's grasp.

"Hey!"

Alex ignored Asteria's complaints as he weighed in the key on his palm.

"Hoh, so it's actually this dense." Alex muttered to himself as he started to play with the key. "No wonder Asteria almost fell down while carrying this…"

"Okay hooman, with that purchase that you made, you only have 5 Years, 4 Months, and 13 Days of Lifespan left." Asteria muttered as she gave Alex a dry look. "Will you still buy another item? You should remember that the Superhuman Cultivation Body is just worth 5 Years of Lifespan. You can totally buy it now!"

"Yeah… with my lifespan, I can actually buy a Superhuman Cultivation Body right now…" Alex muttered to himself with interest as he cupped his chin. "But should I buy it now?"

He then looked back at his remaining lifespan as he debated on whether he should buy it or not.

"If I buy the Superhuman Cultivation Body now, I will only be left with 4 Months and 13 Days of Lifespan…" Alex muttered to himself as he narrowed his eyes in contemplation. "Is it worth it to leave myself with only that few months of lifespan? And is it worth it to give myself another powerset, when I already have 2?"

With these two dilemmas on his mind, Alex was unable to make a decision as of now.

On one hand, he was extremely tempted to buy the Superhero Cultivation Body, since he already had the enough lifespan for it. Besides, this will be an additional power for him!

However, Alex was also worried that having too much power might weaken his fighting skills, and that it might also affect that overall improvement of his abilities.

Besides, the remaining lifespan that Alex will get after buying the Superhero Cultivation Body won't be enough to last Alex for a year!

Of course the Bonus Missions that were given to Alex can help increase Alex's lifespan, but is it really worth it to reduce his lifespan for another power that might not help him at this world at all?

"…" Asteria seemed to have sensed Alex's indecision, which prompted her to let out a sigh.

"Hooman, if it were me, I'd advise you to buy the Superhuman Cultivation Body right now." Asteria said as she placed her hands on her hips. "Trust me, the risks will be worth it."

"Are you really sure about that?" Alex asked Asteria as he peered at her with a suspicious look. "Didn't you say before that having too much power will be of detriment to me? Why are you changing your tune right now?"

"Well, I still stand by on that principle, but you actually do not need to face a problem like this when you buy the Superhuman Cultivation Body." Asteria replied as she let out a shrug.

"Huh?"

"You can just choose a Superhuman ability that is related to both of your Esper Power and your Abyss Ability." Asteria said as she gave Alex a shrug. "That way, even if you have 3 abilities right now, it won't actually be that hard to improve them, since they will all be related to each other…"

"…You really are making this sound good. So good that I find this more and more suspicious right now." Alex said to Asteria with suspicion on his face as he gave her a wary look. "Is it really just that simple?"

"Yeah, it's that simple!" Asteria replied as she gave Alex an affronted look. "Why would you even be suspicious of me?"

"Alina?" Alex looked at Alina's direction as he gave her an inquisitive look. "Is Asteria telling the truth? Will it be really okay for me to buy another ability right now?"

"…She's telling the truth." Alina replied as she glanced at Asteria for a second. "And in my opinion, I think we should all add up our arsenal too. With us having more than one opponent, I think having more abilities will be good for us."

"You heard your girl." Asteria said as she gave Alex a smug look. "Now, will you buy it or not?"

"I only need to get a Superpower related to both my Esper Ability and my Abyss Power, right?" Alex muttered to himself as he tilted his chin. "In that case, show me the Superpowers that I can buy."

"Here you go then." Asteria started to open her mouth as she recited all the possible Superhuman Abilities that Alex can buy as of now.

"…" As Asteria continued talking, Alex's facial expression started to turn darker and darker as if he just heard something unpleasant right now.

Once Asteria had finished talking, Alex could not help but let out a snort as he said,

"Asteria, these are the possible Superhuman Abilities that I can buy?"

"Yeah, that's all, hooman." Asteria replied as she tilted her confusion. "Why, are there any problems with that?"

"They all look ok, but it's just that… they seem to mundane to me." Alex replied as he recalled the Superhuman Abilities that Asteria declared as of now.

[Temperature Control]

[Friction Manipulation]

[Momentum and Flux Dispersion]

[Silica Control]

[Sound Manipulation]

[Turbulence Induction]

[Cat Summons]

[Lockpicking]

With one look, Alex can see that these Superhuman Abilities have some kind of use, but in Alex's opinion, none of them will be of that great help to him as of now.

"Seriously, these are all the abilities that I can only buy?" Alex could not help but sneer as he gave Asteria an irritated look. "Are you sure that one of these can really be of great help to me here?"

"Hey, I'm just showing you the list!" Asteria replied angrily as she crossed her arms. "If you want to buy, then just buy!"

"…"

"Oh, and these abilities might look weak now, but I assure you, they will also get stronger with time." Asteria replied as she gave Alex an appraising look.

"So, you are telling me that in the future, these abilities, like for example, [Temperature Manipulation], will reach a much stronger state?" Alex asked Asteria as he gave her a blank look. "You're making them sound like they're Esper Abilities…"

"Just believe me when I tell you that you can make a Superhuman Ability stronger." Asteria replied as she averted her gaze away from Alex. "So, will you buy now or not?"

"Tsk." After receiving Asteria's reply, Alex let out a sigh as he made his decision.

"Okay, do you have any SUGGESTIONS on what I should buy then?" Alex asked Asteria directly. "Surely, someone as wise as you have some kind of suggestions for me."

"Of course I have a suggestion!" Asteria replied as she let out a humph. "Do you think I am just making you buy these things for nothing? You are greatly mistaken by that!"

"Just get to the point."

"Hmph! In my opinion, you should buy [Temperature Control]." Asteria said as she started nodding her head. "Yup, that's the one that you should buy right now."

"You're kidding." That was all that Alex could say as he stared at Asteria in confusion. "Why should I buy a weak-ass ability like that?"

"Weak-ass my ass!" Asteria replied angrily as she glared at Alex. "I am telling you right now, that you should buy this ability! If not, then you will surely regret it!"

"…" At that point, Alex found it hard to believe in Asteria, as she sounded like a desperate salesman intent of selling him a piece of crap.

"How the hell could [Temperature Control] be used on both of my Esper Ability and my Abyss Power?" Alex asked the dumb fairy as he started to back away from her. "You… you're not trolling me, right?"

"I'm not!"

"Tsk, you better not, because if you are, then I will personal-"

"Boom!"

Whatever threat Alex wanted to give Asteria was cut-off as a powerful attack suddenly appeared front of Alex.

The attack was in form of a laser beam, which razed and obliterated everything that it had contact with.

Alex could have been affected by the laser too, which fortunately did not happen.

"What the?" With his advanced danger sense, Alex was able to dodge the laser attack by a hairbreadth, allowing him to move back to safety.

"Alina, someone's attacking us!" Alex shouted out as he waved his hands, storing the blue key and the drum of blood inside their Storage. "Be at full alert! This could be difficult for us!"

"Got it." Alina's relaxed expression was replaced by a stern one as she jumped back on her place, activating her dimension manipulation to create a shield in front of her and Alex.

As for Queen Mother and Professor Frances, both of them assumed battle poses, with Professor Frances hiding behind Queen Mother and holding a syringe in her left hand.

As for Alex, he immediately summoned two tentacles from his back as he revved his senses to its maximum limits.

He also started to scan his surroundings with his Emotion Sense and his Esper Power, but to his disappointment, he found nobody inside his overall 2 kilometer-scanning range.

This just meant that whoever attacked Alex was situated at a location much farther than Alex's scanning range.

"Tsk, this is bad…" Alex muttered to himself as he discreetly activated some Abyss Magic to bolster himself up. "That laser attack was the quickest attack that I have witnessed, and if it were not for my danger sense, I could have been skewered by that laser now."

Alex was not joking when he said that that laser attack was the fastest that he faced.

Normally speaking, Alex's danger sense can detect danger when the intent to attack him starts.

That was how Alex was able to detect attacks before they hit him.

But in the case of this laser attack, he was only able to detect the danger right when the laser was about to hit him!

This just means that this laser attack was extremely fast! So fast that Alex can only detect it when it was about to hit him!

"Asteria, let's talk about that [Temperature Control] later." Alex said as he started to narrow his eyes. "For now, let me deal with this pesky enemy first…"