Death… And Me

Chapter 4503: Anyone Else

Back at the vault, Thery and his group were waiting for Roan and the others. Flugel and Lukay were there as well, as they weren’t present when Kentucky had gone to fetch Roan and Celis. The others had already heard the commotion from a distance, but without knowing exactly what had happened, they had no choice but to wait for their return.

”You gave me quite a scare there,” Thery commented. ”The airplane suddenly wasn’t here anymore when I came back. Yet the vault was still perfectly concealed. Did something happen?”

Rean nodded and immediately used his Godly Sense to explain everything that had happened. There was no reason to keep the details secret from their own group. ”And that’s basically it.”

Thery and Flugel looked at the fox sitting on Rean’s shoulder, and sure enough, she now had three tails. Her size hadn’t changed at all, though. The three tails were the most obvious sign that something about her had changed, but there was still no way for them to determine exactly what kind of transformation she had undergone.

”That was a pretty ridiculous breakthrough for someone at her level.”

*Rawr!*

The fox seemed very pleased by their comment, proudly lifting her head as her three tails swayed behind her. She clearly understood that they were praising her... or maybe she was just that confident.

”Any chance of that happening again anytime soon?” Sison asked this time.

Rean looked at the fox, and she shook her head.

”Seems like she doesn’t think it will. First of all, she has been with me for around thirty years already, and this was her first breakthrough. Well, even she isn’t sure whether that could be called a breakthrough in the same way we cultivators understand it,” Rean explained. ”Oh, right!”

Rean suddenly looked at her with a smile. ”You already understand us, but you can’t talk. You tried using senses before, but it didn’t work either. However, maybe you can use Celestial or Godly Sense now that you have had a breakthrough. Why don’t you give it a try and see if you can convey any words to us?”

Kentucky immediately became excited. ”Oh! That would be great! I want to see just what she has to say after all the trouble she caused. Hahaha!”

*Grrrrr...*

The fox wasn’t nearly as pleased with Kentucky’s comment. Her ears lowered slightly as she glared at him, and the three tails behind her puffed up slightly.

Kentucky immediately stopped laughing.

Still, she understood what Rean wanted. She had heard Rean communicating with her through Godly Sense countless times, so she knew exactly what he was asking her to do.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried to communicate with them this way before, either. She simply had never managed to make it work. Perhaps she had been barred from using Godly Sense because of her cultivation, just like you need to be Aura Gods to release energy outside, so now that she had evolved, she decided to give it another try.

She lifted her paws, silently asking everyone to hold her.

Godly Sense couldn’t spread through the environment in Woster, so the only way to make it leave one’s body was through direct contact. This was something they had already confirmed countless times during their stay here, and the fox clearly understood that rule as well.

Curiosity immediately got the better of everyone present. One after another, they held her paws or touched the fur on her back, waiting to see whether she could really succeed this time.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then...

’Kentucky... is an idiot...’

Kentucky’s smile disappeared instantly, and his mouth twitched. He stared at the fox as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

”Why don’t you go fuck yourself?”

Roan, however, reached out and stroked the fox’s head for the very first time. ”Turns out she is even smarter than we thought.”

Rean and Celis nodded vigorously in agreement.

”You can all go fuck yourselves too!” Kentucky cursed.

”Hahahaha!” Rean couldn’t hold back anymore and laughed out loud. Even Celis was struggling to contain his laughter, while Roan’s expression remained mostly unchanged. The fox, meanwhile, looked extremely pleased with herself.

Rean then grabbed the fox by her paws and held her up high. ”So you can use Godly Sense! Yes, Godly Sense, not Celestial Sense.”

*Rawr!*

’Yes! I can!’

*Rawr!*

’It feels so good!’

Her excitement was obvious through the Godly Sense connection. It wasn’t just the ability to communicate that made her happy. She had spent around thirty years surrounded by cultivators who could communicate with one another while she could only understand them silently. Being able to finally answer them herself felt like an entirely new world had opened up.

Thery was very curious about the fox. ”I’ve seen plenty of fox races, whether they were Godly Creatures or simple animals. Yet, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like you before. That breakthrough of yours... how were you able to release so much energy? Even Zone Gods couldn’t get close to you.”

*Raw...r...*

’I don’t know. I suddenly felt a surge of energy igniting inside my body, and everything felt like it was boiling. However, it wasn’t painful or anything. It was very comfortable. So comfortable that I wish I could stay like that forever.’

Everyone’s expression became a little more serious.

The fox then looked at Rean.

*Rawr!*

’I couldn’t even think straight during that. Then came the moment when everything built up even more, with all the flames rushing back into my body. I almost gave up my own life just so I could keep feeling that for one more second. But then... Rean approached me.’

”Oh!” Rean immediately remembered. ”No wonder you darted at me and almost broke my arms when you slammed into my body. You kept rubbing your head against me like you had never done before.”

*Rawr...*

The fox lowered her head, an apologetic expression appearing on her face.

’Yes. Your presence helped me break out of that feeling, and then I became very scared. Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself. I hurt you...’

”Hey, it’s fine! Even if you had broken my body in half, I’m confident I could have healed myself. No big deal,” Rean assured her. ”Still, that is something we’ll need to keep an eye on. Being completely lost in the feelings of one’s own breakthrough... That’s the first time I’ve heard of such a thing. Senior Thery, Senior Arcis, have you ever heard of anything like that before?”

Thery shook his head first. ”No. If anything, a breakthrough is a moment of high tension for any race I know. It isn’t something that makes you feel good at all.”

Arcis agreed with Thery. ”Same here. Some races have easier breakthroughs, while others have a much harder time, but the moment itself is more or less the same for all of them. They are filled with tension, and quite often with a lot of pain for us Demon Beasts as our bodies evolve.”

He paused before continuing. ”There is the possibility of someone losing consciousness due to the pain and strain of a breakthrough, but I don’t think that fits what the fox just described. She wasn’t losing consciousness because of pain. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

Rean nodded slowly. ”So there really isn’t anything we can compare it to.”

”Not that I know of,” Arcis replied.

Roan decided to stop there. ”Since none of us has an answer, we can only be prepared for when it happens again. Still, it took her thirty years to have her first evolution or breakthrough. It goes without saying that another one shouldn’t happen before at least that amount of time.”

That was something everyone could agree on. The only way someone could have a much faster breakthrough was if they obtained resources that far surpassed what they had used in their previous realm. And that was much easier said than done.

Besides, there was still the question of what exactly the fox’s cultivation system was. They had never been able to determine her realm, and even now, after witnessing what looked like a breakthrough, they still couldn’t say with certainty what had actually changed inside her body.

*Rawr!*

’I will be careful!’

Well, she was already around thirty years old, so she definitely didn’t have the mind of a child anymore. It was just that she wasn’t very good with words since she had never used them before. As a result, her way of speaking sounded more or less childish.

”Good! I’ll be here to help when that time comes!” Rean reassured her.

Roan narrowed his eyes. ”Weren’t you the one who said that you might leave her behind now that we were back to where we found her?”

*Rawr!*

’No! I don’t want to leave!’

The fox immediately grabbed onto Rean’s clothes with her paws as if afraid he might actually leave her behind.

Rean scratched the back of his head. ”I... don’t think I can simply ignore her predicament.”

”Hmph!” Roan snorted. ”You just got the excuse you always wanted, that’s all.”

Rean didn’t deny that.

After all, Roan wasn’t wrong. Rean had already grown attached to the fox during the decades they had spent together. He might have originally intended to leave her behind once they returned to the place where they had found her, but after everything that had happened, the idea no longer felt as simple as it had before.

”Still,” Roan continued, ”at least she isn’t powerless anymore. We need to check her strength and figure out just how much stronger she became after that evolution as well. But for now, calling her fox, fox, fox all the time is annoying as fuck. She needs a name.”

”Oh!” Rean immediately grew excited. His eyes lit up as he looked at the fox. ”Then I’ll—”

*Rawr!*

’Anyone but Rean!’

Rean’s smile froze, and he almost vomited blood.

”BETRAYAL!”

The fox proudly lifted her head, her three tails swaying behind her. She knew better than to let Rean give any ideas.