One of the things that i do not like about Celestia (and every other world in the game) is that it takes way to long to collect items when on a quest. For example, i had to collect 4 Bottles of Sealant from monsters in the Survey Camp. It took way to long. I suggest that you just make the first monster you kill give you the item instead of making you fight 30 monsters just to find 4 items.
These types of battles do seem to be in every world. We have decided that they are in place to prevent you from zipping though each world to fast.
Don't expect this to change, it has been complained about many times - some say they get the collect in one shot others spend hours on them, it's just part of the game.
I agree with brwac in that I don't believe this is going to change.
I can tell you one thing that I found helpful is as much as possible try doing this quest with other people. You get more enemies per battle and if you can find some fun people it helps the time to pass more enjoyably.
