Death… And Me

Chapter 3781: There Is Also Good?

”Do you need to do something else after absorbing an Umbra?” Roan asked, ignoring all that sentimentalism. ”If so, focus on your task and make that energy your own.”

”Yes, senior Roan!” Xian quickly circulated that new Shadow Energy in his body. Unlike other races, there was no core or dantian. That’s why the twins felt it was similar to themselves. The Umbras’ entire body was their soul, and they utilized the Shadow Energy to envelop it and keep the soul intact.

The soul itself existed with the Shadow Energy, which explained why Xian got so ’transparent’ when he was almost without it.

As for using that energy to increase their level, it wasn’t very complicated. As long as the Shadow Energy wasn’t hostile, Xian was able to make it his own straight away. Xian only focused for a minute, and all that energy was already part of himself.

Xian’s Shadow Energy became very thick, but it only lasted a few seconds. Following that, Rean and Roan observed how Xian’s Soul utilized that energy for its own purposes. The thickness of that Shadow Energy diminished quickly.

They understood why. Xian was taking a step further as an Umbra. Just like the guy who had won a moment ago, it was Xian’s time to use all that energy to increase his level.

He did not reach Level Two, though. If you thought that the Levels also had stages, Xian’s progress was basically jumping from the Middle Stage of Level One, passing through the Late Stage, and reaching the Peak Stage.

”Phew...” Xian felt invigorated.

”That was truly a lot of Shadow Energy. I probably won’t see something like this ever again. Still...” Xian looked at Rean. ”Senior Rean, did you do something to the Shadow Energy? I’ve never absorbed such nourishing Shadow Energy before, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to gain so much just from that one Umbra.”

Rean pondered a bit... ”That’s weird. Since I was using my Purification Skill to remove the hostility, that energy was supposed to get weaker instead. At most, it should have received no detriments. After all, my Purification Skill relies on my Light Element, which is Pure Yang. I don’t see how my Purification Skill could have made it better. If anything, it should have made worse...”

”But it also healed Xian’s soul, didn’t it?” Roan asked back. ”Perhaps it reached a balance between the Shadow Energy’s Yin Energy and your Purification Skill’s Yang Energy. Something similar to what the two of us have with our Light and Dark Elements.”

Rean couldn’t see that happening. ”The soul part was indeed because of my Light Element, but it still should have nothing to do with Xian gaining more power than he should. I can check it more closely next time, though.”

”Next time?” Xian was taken aback. ”Are you going to take another one?”

”What?” Rean smiled, ”Excited?”

Xian quickly shook his head in response. ”The contrary! It is too risky, seniors. There is no need to go that far. I’ve gained more than I could ever wish for. Let’s take the safe approach and refrain from doing something like this again, okay?”

Xian quickly changed into his cloudy form, enveloping the twins and recreating the thick layer of Shadow Energy. His power might have increased, but the way he is now, he would still be a burden if he had to be protected. Only the two small eyes poked out from the Shadow Energy on the twins’ shoulders again, naturally, Xian’s eyes.

The lack of greed from Xian felt somewhat remarkable. However, that also raised a doubt in the twins’ minds.

”Now that I think about it,” Rean commented, ”Umbras are born out of the discarded desires from the Living Beings. We thought that only the worst emotions would come to this place, like greed, lust, wrath, and such. Yet, we now know there are quite a few ’good-hearted’ Umbras. It doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

Roan agreed. ”Indeed. After all, the Umbras’ initial personalities are highly dependent on the memory fragments from those emotions.”

Xian didn’t have an answer for that. ”I can’t understand much from the fragments that made me, but there are indeed some that are quite evil. But at the same time, there are way more fragments on the good side. These two don’t make up the majority of the fragments inside those emotions, though. The majority of the memory fragments are from simple moments that have nothing to do with good or bad, like resting. You don’t need to be good or evil to rest.”

”That said, you do feel greed, right?” Rean asked seriously.

Xian confirmed without a second thought. ”Yes, senior Rean. But I’m also afraid of the consequences of falling for its allure. I couldn’t bear the thought of a moment of greed causing pain to Big Sister and the others.”

Roan began to fly away. ”That simply makes you normal, like any other sentient living being. There is no such thing as greedless, except for some purposely modified souls. Even Angels are part of this rule. Since you can weigh the pros and cons of being lured by it, that already makes you far better than many idiots I’ve met in the past. Anyway, let’s keep going. Whether there are also good emotions being sealed behind the fabric of space or not, that matters little to us.”

Rean confirmed, quickly following Roan.

They continued their previous schedule. Fly for a day or two, try to open a Spatial Gate, and use the runes to identify the direction they should fly. At some point, Level One Umbras disappeared. They could only see Level Two Umbras now, the weakest ones at the Middle Stage.

However, with the disappearance of Level One Umbras, the number of Umbras as a whole also declined sharply. Sometimes the twins had to fly hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometers to meet one Level Two Umra on his own. Rarely did they see more than two of the Umbras near each other.

When they did, there was usually a battle ongoing for each other’s Shadow Energy. At this level, Umbras who still worked together became few and far between, revealing just how much distrust they had for other Umbras as their levels increased.