Death… And Me

Chapter 3766: Miserable

Xian looked at that, shocked.

*Ugh...*

However, the pain of the shadow he was absorbing quickly kicked in again before he could say anything.

"Focus," Roan spoke in a cold tone. "Finish what you have to do, then we can talk."

Xian quickly focused, continuing to absorb that mindless shadow from outside. It was a slow process, taking over ten hours as the shadow struggled with everything it had. If anything, the shadow seemed to get more and more restless the more his energy was taken away from him.

Xian didn’t look any better, as the energy of that mindless shadow entered his body seemed to also increase his own suffering. Rean had his arms crossed, his Light Bending Skill covering the area and the entrance of that tunnel.

’Sister Orb, what can you say about this?’ At the same time, he asked Sister Orb.

[What do you expect me to say?] Sister Orb was lost, though. [The shadow kid, Xian, is using the midless shadow from outside to recover the energy he has lost. Other than that, judging by the progress, this shadow won’t be enough to recover even a single percentage of what he lost to that shadow called Tissal.]

Rean slightly nodded.

Roan looked outside, and the area seemed almost empty. It wasn’t that there were few of these high-intelligence shadows, but that this place was truly enormous. ’Kentucky...’

’I know,’ Kentucky quickly joined. ’The connection with the ancient runes protecting the fabric of space is definitely here. Now that we are inside, it is even more apparent. It is at the center, but this center is definitely very, very far from this tunnel.’

Roan pondered about it. ’It will be hard to avoid the intelligent shadows the further we go in, and judging by the fight we saw earlier, there are bound to be many more shadows, of which many will definitely have power equivalent to Peak Divinity Realm experts.’

Rean agreed with him. ’You just need to look at Xian. He is absorbing the shadow from outside, and those guys absorb his energy as well. Simply put, there is a limitless source of energy right outside this installation. In any case, we have a limited time. I’ve stopped using the reserves of Light Energy inside our Dimensional Realm as I did before, but I’m still using a little. From now on, any battles or similar activities we engage in will tap into those reserves, which won’t be replenished. This place also doesn’t have the least bit of elemental presence.’

’That reminds me,’ Celis spoke, also looking at everything that was happening. ’Those two shadows earlier, Tissal and Calanti, didn’t they look to be using the elements? There was air, fire, water, lightning, you name it. It’s just that everything had a dark color.’

Roan noticed that as well. ’Indeed, but I checked them closely with my Divine Sense. Those things only imitated elements, they weren’t real elements. I don’t know how they do it, but they created those fake elements through the use of their shadow energy.’

’Now that you mentioned that,’ Rean continued, ’didn’t they call it emotional energy?’

[It makes sense, no? The shadows were created out of the expelled desires of the inhabitants of Universe D33. Those are all emotions, so calling it emotional energy fits.]

’Didn’t know emotions could take energy forms...’ Rean became slightly interested. ’Anyway, Tissal and Calanti also used laws, and quite a few of them. Roan and I are already quite rare for using two different laws, and so are Celis and Kentucky. Tissal and Calanti, however... that Tissal alone, I felt five different types of laws inside that dark cloud he changed into.’

Roan identified the same. ’Calanti had four: water, lighting, wind, and one last law that I couldn’t identify. This one law was also present on Tissal.’

*Uwwuuu...*

Suddenly, the mindless shadow that Xian was absorbing gave a last howl. The last of its energy entered Xian, while Xian himself seemed to change into that dark cloud shape for a moment. At that moment, Rean and Roan could feel it again, that weird law.

Finally, Xian reverted to his childlike form, and the feebleness of his body disappeared a little. He wasn’t as ’material’ as he was when they met him hours ago, but at least it didn’t seem Xian would disappear in the next moment anymore.

However, Xian didn’t get up or talk. Instead, he collapsed as he floated near the wall since this place had no gravity.

Rean approached him, trying to grab Xian. Unfortunately, his hand went through Xian as his shadow body became ethereal to the touch. Nothing happened to Xian himself, but Rean obviously could carry the kid in the usual way. "These shadows are sure a weird form of life..."

"Can you even call it life?" Roan asked in response. Then, he used his Divine Energy to see if he could grab Xian, and this time, it worked. "Divine Energy is enough. Can you tell why he collapsed?"

"Seems like a side-effect for absorbing that mindless shadow from outside," Rean commented. Then, he sent a little bit of Light Element into Xian’s body, truly just a pinch. Xian seemed to feel some pain due to the presence of Yang Energy, but nothing like when he was absorbing the shadow or when his energy was taken from him. That lasted just a second, and Rean stopped. "Interesting. When you arrived, I could feel Xian had the properties of a newborn soul, but I wasn’t certain if he truly had a soul himself."

Rean continued. "Maybe he had some other way, a soul-like energy mass that allowed the generation of intelligence and sentience. I was wrong, though. There is truly a soul inside, but a very different one. No, to be honest, compared to us, he is quite similar."

Roan understood what Rean meant. "His soul is present in every single millimeter of his body, just like us after we started to cultivate the new technique from the system."

"Exactly." Rean patted the shadow kid’s head, covering his hand with a layer of gentle Divine Energy to be able to touch him. "That explains why it looks so excruciating to have his shadow energy... or emotional energy... taken away; the same goes for when he tries to replenish it with other shadows."

Rean and Roan agreed on one point. That seemed a very miserable life, if you could call that at all.