Chapter 282: Indecisiveness

Regaleon recognized the objects in Caelestra’s hand immediately. They were Essence Crystals, the same valuable resources she had harvested from the cave containing the Essence Pool.

However, what truly surprised him was not the possibility of substituting the crystals for Aether Cores, but Caelestra’s apparent willingness to sacrifice a considerable portion of her collection for his sake. The crystals were valuable cultivation resources, and as a merchant whose Soul Essence depended on Coins, she had every reason to preserve them rather than offer them to someone else’s Soul Essences.

Regaleon studied the glimmering objects for a moment before raising his eyes to meet her silver gaze. "Um, Caelestra, I really can’t accept these. I mean, aren’t they necessary for replenishing your Coins and maintaining your Treasure Chest?"

His refusal was not an attempt to display excessive politeness, nor was he trying to make her insist upon the offer before accepting it. He simply found the situation rather disconcerting.

Caelestra was offering him something valuable enough to affect her own cultivation, and she was doing so with a casualness that made the gesture seem considerably smaller than it actually was.

More importantly, Regaleon had witnessed her performance during the battle.

He had seen her Coins flying through the air as projectiles, only to be crushed beneath the Ratchyrs’ claws and incisors. He had also watched her sacrifice additional Coins to activate her Coin Legion, summoning spectral warriors to fight on her behalf. Although her Soul Essence had contributed significantly to the group’s victory, that contribution had not come without a cost.

As far as he understood, Essence Crystals were indispensable to Caelestra’s ability to replenish her lost Coins. Without a sufficient supply, her combat effectiveness could diminish considerably, especially if the group encountered another powerful enemy before reaching the Sanctuary.

Regaleon could not say precisely how many Essence Crystals she had collected from the cave, but the quantity she was offering appeared substantial. Judging by the handful resting in her palm, she might be surrendering roughly a quarter of her entire stock, perhaps even more.

To him, this was not a minor gesture of goodwill. It was a meaningful sacrifice of resources she had personally worked to acquire, offered without any expectation of immediate repayment.

Such generosity was difficult to accept lightly.

Caelestra, however, merely smiled at his concern.

"Actually, you don’t need to worry about them. Thanks to Aelric, I’ve managed to gather so many Essence Crystals that I’m confident my supply will last throughout our journey to the Sanctuary."

Her smile grew slightly as she extended her hand towards him.

Of course, that confidence came with one rather important qualification.

It would probably last until they reached the Sanctuary, provided they did not become embroiled in any more serious battles along the way.

Unfortunately, the Nether Lands had a peculiar talent for turning reasonable expectations into amusing anecdotes. Caelestra was well aware that another difficult encounter could force her to spend more Coins than she had anticipated, and replenishing them would naturally require additional Essence Crystals.

Nevertheless, she had no intention of voicing that particular concern.

Regaleon was already reluctant to accept her offer, and she suspected that mentioning the possibility of another battle would give him yet another excuse to refuse. Considering how stubbornly he had rejected the idea of experimenting with Nether Cores, she was in no mood to provide him with fresh material for hesitation.

"Besides," she continued, holding the crystals a little closer to him, "what use are these resources if they spend their entire existence sitting inside my Treasure Chest when I have no immediate need for them?"

Regaleon looked at her.

He understood what she was attempting to do. Caelestra was presenting him with a convenient justification, one that would allow him to accept the crystals without feeling as though he had deprived her of something important.

It was a thoughtful gesture in its own right. Even so, a faint scruple remained at the back of his mind.

The problem was not that he doubted her generosity. Rather, he understood the value of what she was offering. Essence Crystals were not ordinary stones that could be collected and discarded without consequence. They represented time, effort, and an investment in her future cultivation. Every crystal she gave him was a resource she could otherwise have used to strengthen her own Soul Essence.

Accepting them merely because his Soul Essences had developed an appetite for more energy did not sit entirely well with him.

Yet his attention gradually returned to the shimmering crystals in her palm.

Perhaps he was being unnecessarily cautious.

Since arriving in the Nether Lands, he had learned that opportunities for advancement rarely appeared at convenient moments. Survival demanded constant adaptation, and those who waited for circumstances to become perfectly favourable often discovered that the opportunity had already passed them by.

His Soul Essences were approaching a breakthrough. He could feel their peculiar restlessness, and the energy they had consumed from the Aether Cores had brought them tantalizingly close to the threshold.

Now that the available Cores were exhausted, refusing Caelestra’s offer might force him to postpone their advancement until the group found another suitable supply.

That could take days, perhaps weeks.

Even then, there was no guarantee that another collection of Aether Cores would be readily available. Their next encounter might yield nothing, and the group could not afford to waste time hunting for cultivation resources whenever someone needed them.

Regaleon lowered his gaze to the crystals once more.

Could they genuinely serve as a substitute?

The uncertainty was understandable. Although Essence Crystals and Aether Cores both contained Aether, they were not identical in their composition or formation.

Aether Cores developed within the bodies of Animas and other creatures, where their concentrated energy could be absorbed by Etheryeans to replenish their depleted reserves. Their formation was tied to the creatures’ own cultivation and biological processes, producing compact stores of energy that could sustain practitioners after strenuous battles.

Essence Crystals, on the other hand, formed through a considerably different process. Certain rocks absorbed Aether from their surroundings over extended periods, gradually accumulating and concentrating the energy until their original composition transformed into something far more valuable.

One originated within a living creature, while the other emerged from the prolonged accumulation of energy in an appropriate environment.

Their methods of formation differed, but the fundamental energy contained within them remained Aether.

That similarity offered a reasonable basis for experimentation, although it did not eliminate every uncertainty. Differences in concentration, structure, and the manner in which the energy had been accumulated might influence how his Soul Essences responded.

Regaleon was unwilling to assume that two resources were interchangeable simply because they shared the same underlying energy.

"Caelestra, you really don’t have to give me the Essence Crystals," he said after a moment. "What if the energy inside them isn’t suitable for my Soul Essences?"

For the first time since she had made the offer, Caelestra appeared genuinely taken aback.

She blinked at him, her outstretched hand remaining suspended between them.

It was not that she had expected him to accept immediately without expressing any gratitude. Rather, she had anticipated a different sort of hesitation, perhaps a concern about owing her a favour or an insistence that she preserve her resources for the journey ahead.

Instead, he was questioning whether the crystals would even work.

Caelestra’s surprise gradually gave way to a look of incredulity.

Regaleon was usually decisive and remarkably self-possessed. When confronted with difficult circumstances, he tended to assess the available options and act without allowing unnecessary doubts to paralyse him. He was not the sort of person who spent an entire afternoon debating whether to take a step that could reasonably be justified.

Yet here he was, scrutinizing every possible consequence of accepting a handful of crystals.

If anyone else had witnessed the exchange, they might have assumed that Caelestra was offering him a mysterious poison rather than a collection of valuable cultivation resources.

The thought almost made her smile.

However, as she studied his expression more carefully, she began to understand the reason for his unusual behaviour.

This was not merely another attempt to strengthen himself. The advancement of his Soul Essence carried implications that extended beyond a simple increase in power, and he was painfully aware of how much the opportunity meant to him.

His reluctance was not born from indifference, but from the knowledge that he might be standing on the verge of something extraordinary.

And that alone was enough to explain why the normally decisive silver-haired Knight was behaving like a peasant who had suddenly received an invitation to a wealthy king’s palace...