Death… And Me

Chapter 3539: The Necessary Long Time

It wasn’t just nine years. It took the twins’ group eleven years to go from the late stage to the peak stage of the Space-Bending Realm. Well, they knew it would be ’at least’ nine years, not that nine years was guaranteed. Regardless, the session continued, and the Starlight Stones were consumed nonstop. Even the Rank Seven Divine Stones Rean got from the Elves were going down.

During this time, Zangeshu managed to reach the Elemental Space Realm as well, while Rifindio reached the Middle Stage of that Realm. It looked like the higher the twins’ cultivation, the slower the twins were compared to Rifindio and Zangeshu. The proportional energy requirement for the twins’ group was escalating fast.

The initial twenty-year plan soon transformed into thirty, then thirty-five, forty... In the end, only by the ninety-first year after stopping for cultivation did the Rean, Roan, Celis, and Kentucky reach the Elemental Space Realm.

It was supposed to be faster, but because of how much the energy requirements were escalating, the number of Starlight Stones and the Rank Seven Divine Stones reached zero before the breakthrough. It was good the twins’ group still had a lot of Divine Stones of the lower levels, so they refined the energy into Divine Origin Energy and continued.

Then, when the last Starlight Stone turned into dust, they returned to their normal Starlight Energy absorption. That’s where most of the time was lost. When the Starlight Stones ended, the twins’ group had already cultivated around 85% of the Peak Stage of the Space-Bending Realm. At that moment, 25 years had gone by.

What did that mean? It meant the last 15% of the Peak Stage took them sixty-six years! If not that the breakthrough into a new realm would be followed by a huge burst of power increase, they probably would have stopped just before it.

Well, that also meant Rifindio and Zangeshu had an extra seventy-one years of cultivation-focused time. The 20 supposed years transformed into 91, after all. The speed difference increased exponentially. When the twins finally reached the Elemental Space Realm, Rifindio was already in the Peak Stage, while Zangeshu got to the Late Stage.

The results of this cultivation session were made obvious when put on paper.

Rifindio went from the Peak Stage of the Space-Bending Realm to the Peak Stage of the Elemental Space Realm. He gained an entire realm during this time! Praised be the Celestial Bloodline!

Zangeshu literally got an entire realm and an extra stage. It showed that his cultivation was indeed slightly faster than Rifindio’s, as he didn’t need to care about specifics from bloodlines or whatever.

On the other hand, that pointed out how much slower each stage was for the twins the higher they went up. They went from the Middle Stage of the Space-Bending Realm to the Initial Stage of the Elemental Space Realm.

You might be thinking: It doesn’t look that much different. Each cultivation realm has four stages. Rifindio went up four stages, and Zangeshu got five stages. What about the twins? Didn’t they go up three stages? It was just one less than Rifindio, nothing that impressive.

However, you can’t forget that the higher the cultivation, the higher the energy requirements and the harder it becomes. Simply put, both Zangeshu and Rifindio are at a much higher level than the twins right now, and yet, they were faster! For example, Rifindio took these 91 years to go from the Peak Stage of one realm to the next.

What about the twins? During the first 25 years, they still had Starlight Stones. But after that, it took them 66 years to gain just an extra 15% of a single stage! That was ridiculously slower to a fault! Well... if you don’t consider normal experts, that is. Such experts wouldn’t find anything strange about this speed of cultivation.

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The breakthrough was over, and Rean, Roan, Celis, and Kentucky didn’t move. Their expressions didn’t show much joy either. They understood that the new cultivation technique made them much stronger, but still...

”Sixty-six fucking years to gain a miser 15% of a single stage!” Kentucky complained. ”Is it too late to give up this new cultivation technique and go back to how we were before?”

”Sigh...” Celis sighed. His calculations weren’t that wrong. He had said the Starlight Stones would be barely enough to reach the Elemental Space Realm. In the end, they ended just 15% of a single stage away. It was pretty close, actually. It’s just that he didn’t expect those miser 15% would take so long.

In the end, Celis changed his mind. ”I know I said we could simply cultivate normally after the Starlight Stones were over. Now, I feel like traveling to the past and giving myself a beating for saying that. Forget I said that bullshit. We absolutely need a new source of Starlight Energy. At this speed, we might be looking into over ten thousand years just to gain a single stage in the higher stages.”

That obviously wouldn’t work. The average life span of a humanoid was 28000 years. They might even die before they could reach the Space-Time Realm. Well, at least Rean and Roan would.

The last 15% of the previous stage took 66 years to be cultivated. If you calculated, that meant the entire Peak Stage of the Elemental Space Realm, 100%, would take 440 years to cultivate without Starlight Stones.

However, that was a single stage of the previous realm! Now they are in the Elemental Space Realm, and sure enough, the Starlight Energy Requirements skyrocketed once more. 440 years for a single stage? Ha! That would be a dream!

The Initial Stage of the Elemental Space Realm would definitely take much more than that. If they were lucky, they might get through it in two to three thousand years. But what about the Middle Stage? And the Late Stage? The Peak Stage?! Each stage would require even more than the last! There weren’t any guarantees that the 28000 years of life span was enough. Perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn’t. Regardless of which answer was correct, one thing was obvious, it would take way too damn long!

Roan had a grave expression. There was one place where they might find the necessary Starlight Energy, but that would also mean all the trouble they went to arrive in the center of the Divine Realm would have been for nothing.

Naturally, the place he was thinking of was the Mist Library! Back then, the twins got all their Starlight Stones in the surrounding area following the appearance of the Mist Library. The Mist Library seemed to have a source of Starlight Energy that those few Starlight Stones the twins got simply couldn’t compare to.

But then again, why would they have left the Divine Snow World to start with? That’s where the Mist Library can be found, or maybe not. There was also the problem that no one knew when it would appear again. Perhaps they could use the system’s ability to detect Abyssal Paths, and that might lead them to the Library, but that was only a theory.

Last but not least, even if they found the library... that place was capable of getting rid of Space-Time Realm experts in a moment. Could they truly enter it and rob it of its source of Starlight Energy? Chances were they would die before they could even get close to it.

”We need a new source of Starlight Energy... but it can’t be the Library. That place won’t work at all for many reasons,” Roan gave up the library once he considered the risks.

How to find another source of Starlight Energy. They might find something in the network.

”Well, there is one way we can definitely be pointed in the right direction,” Rean commented.

They all looked at Sister Orb, who was also there.

[Celestial Clue: Based on the Task]

They used this system option to find Starlight Energy in the past. It’s just that they didn’t know what would be the price for that. The cost was based on many requirements. Difficult, distance, what you needed, rarity, and others... And let’s not forget the twins didn’t have many Celestial Points at the moment, only 33. Even worse, the system always gave a clue, not a definitive answer. Even if they paid for the clue, they might not find what it was about.

Rean still decided to give it a try, just to see the price at least. ”Alright, let’s try to use the Celestial Clue and see how much it will cost for the information.”

Roan nodded, and the two accessed the System List.

Sure enough, the system’s voice echoed in their minds.

[Please state your question.]

”Where can we find a source of Starlight Energy good enough to cultivate all the way to the Space-Time Realm or above?” The twins asked together.

[Calculating...]

Just like before, the system didn’t say anything for a while. In fact, it took even longer to calculate, but the twins knew it would give an answer sooner or later.

Finally...

[Cost for the clue: 247 Celestial Points.]

Roan shook his head. ”That won’t work. We don’t have that many points.”

It was then that Rean got an idea. ”Wait... what about Elsie?”

”Elsie?” Everyone got confused.

However, Roan understood what Rean meant. ”Sister Orb, is she still around?” They gave an order to Sister Orb while they cultivated during these years. If Elsie wanted to leave, Sister Orb didn’t need to keep Elsie inside. Simply put, they haven’t seen Elsie for several decades, and she might have left a long time ago.

[She is. You also have control over this Dimensional Realm. You could have simply checked it yourselves.]

As she said, Rean and Roan found Elsie in a corner of the Dimensional Realm, cultivating. Whatever was the reason for her to be in a hurry back then, it didn’t seem to be a reason good enough for her to risk going out. ”Then let’s give it a try.”