novelraw Chapter 290: Another journey to the Mist Instance has become inevitable
Chapter 290: Another journey to the Mist Instance has become inevitable
As Alexander was about to join the battlefield cleanup, withdrawing his gaze from the rewards, a sudden system notification appeared:
"Main Quest Officially Activated! Sweep the Ghost Realm and unify over 90% of the Horror World outside of the Mist World to complete the task.
Rewards: Control of the Horror Instance system, Mist Instance system, and command of the final battle at the River Styx!"
The abrupt system prompt left Alexander stunned.
He was uncertain about what this "final battle at the River Styx" referred to, but he could make a rough guess—it was probably the final confrontation with the Mist World.
As for control over the Horror Instance system, it meant that if he could unify the Horror World, he would gain control over its governing system. Though shocking, it was somewhat understandable.
The Horror Instance system was created by Hades by gathering forbidden rings and breaking through the heavens to imitate the Mist system. It existed as a countermeasure to the Mist World.
With the Horror system in place, hell warriors couldn’t recklessly enter the Ghost City, allowing the entire Horror World to survive this long.
Hades became the most potent Ghost Emperor and severely wounded the Guardians by virtue of being the creator of the Horror Instance, and thus possessing the ability to control it.
But what about control over this Mist system?
According to Alexander’s understanding, since the Horror system was born as an imitation of the Mist system, it was, in essence, a knock-off.
The two systems were natural-born enemies!
Yet here he was, a quest issued by the imitation, offering as a reward control over the original, the arch-nemesis itself.
"Something’s not right... I must be overlooking something!" Alexander muttered to himself, his brows furrowed in confusion.
"What’s bothering you, Alexander? This battle claimed a lot of ghosts. What are you planning to do with the corpses strewn across the battlefield?" Electric-Death Ghost, one of his companions, appeared beside him, his face flushed with excitement.
In this particular battle, they had slain as many as eleven Ghost Imperials.
Each Ghost Imperial equated to a piece of Ghost Food, so how could Electric-Death Ghost not be excited? Was he going to ascend from being a Ghost King to a Ghost Imperial so soon?
"Forget about the Ghost Food from this battle; I have other plans for it," Alexander shook his head.
The previous collections of Ghost Food had only led him to discover the hidden forbidden power within them. To refine this and turn it into something akin to a ’Ghost Pill,’ he needed a large number of Ghost Foods for experimentation.
The Endless Abyss, after being besieged by three cities, suffered over four million casualties—yielding over four million pieces of soldier-level or higher Ghost Food, perfect for his Ghost Pill research.This resulted in over four million pieces of soldier-grade or higher Ghost Food, perfect for his Ghost Pills research.s
Upon hearing Alexander’s words, a subtle look of disappointment briefly crossed Electric-Death Ghost’s face.After all, Electric-Death Ghost and Head-Hugging Ghost were among Alexander’s oldest friends, known since the end of his first instance.
Electric-Death Ghost had been more than loyal to Alexander. When facing off against Charles, the manager of Fierce Ghost Restaurant, Electric-Death Ghost had unhesitatingly torn electrical wires from his own body. His loyalty was beyond question.
Seeing the disheartened look on Electric-Death Ghost’s face, Alexander felt a pang of guilt and quickly reassured him, "Don’t be disappointed! Next time I come around, I’ll bring you a complete set of Ghost Food—Imperial, Ghost Emperor, and even stronger than Ghost Emperor!"
"Really?" Electric-Death Ghost’s eyes immediately lit up.
"Of course! When have I, Alexander, ever gone back on my word?"
Without hesitation, Alexander spoke.
"Alright, it’s settled then! Haha! I’m going to become a Ghost Emperor, too! Don’t worry! You’re my best brother; if you ever need anything, just call on me. Whoever you want taken down, just say the word—I won’t hesitate!" Upon hearing these words, Electric-Death Ghost was ecstatic.
Never had he imagined that, after spending a lifetime as a destitute ghost, his fortunes would so radically change upon meeting Alexander—not only had he grown richer, but he had also become more powerful.
Now, he even had the promise of ascending to become a Ghost Emperor!
Having reassured Electric-Death Ghost, Alexander went straight to Tony and Sam.
He collected all the temporarily frozen Ghost Food gathered from the battlefield clean-up and instructed them to quickly take over the Nether world and Undead city, preparing for a sweeping conquest of the Third Ghost Realm.
Returning to the real world, Alexander specifically checked on Dolly’s villa, noting the securely locked gates. Relieved, he headed to the graveyard and, with the forbidden ring in his possession, once again opened the gates to his previous community.
As he delved deeper into the alchemy of Ghost Pill crafting, time seemed to accelerate. He consumed Ghost Food pieces one by one, each time meticulously trying to harness and refine the latent forbidden power within them.
Try, fail, next piece of Ghost Food—the process was monotonous, yet Alexander showed no signs of impatience.
He knew full well that once he successfully mass-produced Ghost Pills, the Dark Hell realm would undergo a cataclysmic transformation, arming him with the power to challenge the Mist World.
Even the failed Ghost Pills were not wasted.
While they were inedible to others due to the unleashed, yet unpurified, forbidden power—equivalent to lethal poison for other ghosts—they were harmless to Alexander. He simply ingested them to bolster his skill reserves.
As he burned through the majority of the soldier-level corpses, Alexander’s Ghost Energy reserves skyrocketed into the trillions. He was now capable of crafting something akin to Ghost Pills using his ghostly culinary skills.
However, the final step of purification remained a far-off goal.
At this point, continuing to use soldier-level ghost corpses for research bore little fruit—the amount of forbidden power within them was simply too meager.
Alexander shifted his focus to higher-grade corpses: general-level and prince-level.
In his possession, he had nearly five million soldier-grade corpses, but only about two hundred thousand general-grade, and a mere 1,300 prince-grade. King-level corpses were even rarer, numbering fewer than a hundred.
Although the rarity of higher-grade evil ghosts could be partly attributed to their greater ability to survive on the battlefield, it was nevertheless apparent that they were sparse in numbers. Astonishingly, there were eleven Imperial-grade corpses.
Alexander went all in. Every single one of the eleven Imperial-grade corpses was utilized to the last vestige.
"No, the method of purification must work; it just needs a vast amount of high-grade corpses for practice—specifically, prince-level or higher!"
Swallowing the last ruined Imperial-grade Ghost Pill, Alexander observed as his Hell Curse Killing skill reserves surged by over 40 million. He furrowed his brow. It was far from sufficient.
Based on his recent experiences with purifying forbidden power, perhaps hundreds of thousands of additional trials might bring him one success. This process was akin to piercing a hymen: as daunting as the first breakthrough might be, subsequent successes would come more naturally.
Yet to break that crucial barrier, hundreds of thousands of Ghost Food pieces would have to be expended.
Although he planned to sweep through the entire Third Ghost Realm, what Alexander needed was a powerful army, a force capable of rivaling the Mist World.
To succeed in his experiments, he would have to consume hundreds of thousands of prince-level Ghost Food, unless he were to recklessly kill innocents in Dark Hell—an act entirely at odds with his principles.
"It seems," Alexander concluded, "that another journey to the Mist Instance has become inevitable."