Death… And Me

Chapter 3768: An Understatement

Seeing that the twins had gone silent, Xian couldn’t help but get a little nervous. "Di-Did I hurt senior Roan?"

Rean snapped out of his conversation with Roan. "Hurt him? Hahaha! There is no need to worry; he is completely fine, unfortunately... But hey, you did your best, and that’s what counts."

"Stop your bullshit!" Roan was losing his patience again. "Xian, your attack allowed me to test the things I wanted, so you did well."

Rean shrugged as he smiled. "Anyway, Xian, you need to be more careful from now on. In fact, you shouldn’t trust Roan and me this easily. Don’t you have any doubts about us? You can obviously see that we are not Umbras like you."

Yet, that seemed to be the least of Xian’s concerns. "I can trust seniors. You have no malice towards me."

"Hum?" Roan narrowed his eyes. "Is that your opinion after knowing us for just a few hours? That’s too naive."

"No," Xian shook his head. "I truly can’t feel malice from your souls. If there was, I wouldn’t have helped. Seniors are... different. It was the first time I felt souls like yours."

That surprised the twins. "So... you can feel other beings’ intentions towards you or other things?"

Xian nodded. "Yes."

He looked at Roan. "Senior Roan is truly cold and logical, but he will never go out of his way to cause trouble to anyone."

Following that, he turned to Rean. "Senior Rean is warm and sincere, someone who brightens his surroundings."

Then, looking at the two, he completed. "But, above all, seniors would never turn their backs on their companions, regardless of the situation. Race, gender, position, wealth, none of these matters to the two of you."

[So cute! I want him! Can we have him?! We must take him!] Sister Orb’s voice echoed in the twins’ minds.

’Shut up!’ Roan definitely wouldn’t be led by emotions. "Kid, you’re wrong. If I see that my life is at risk because of you, I’ll abandon you without a second thought."

Rean patted Xian’s head. "Ignore him, he is all bark but no bite. Deep down, truly deep, deep, deep, black-hole levels of deepness, he is not toooooooooooooo bad, just 99.99% bad. You were right about me, by the way."

Rean was still curious. "But... how are you able to feel someone else’s intentions?"

"All of us can," Xian explained. "I don’t know why. Umbras are simply born with this innate ability. It isn’t very useful since it doesn’t work on other Umbras, only on living beings like seniors. And we need to be close to be able to feel them."

"Do you know what Umbras are made of?" Roan asked an important question.

"I..." Yet, Xian shook his head in the end. "I’m not sure. But I heard it has something to do with emotions since we need emotional energy to replenish ourselves."

Roan confirmed his suspicions. "So you are indeed blind to the circumstances of your birth. Then let me make it clear."

Following that, Roan explained to Xian how the shadows, or Umbras, came to be, and explained why there were so many outside to the point it seemed they were limitless.

The shock on Xian’s face was evident for anyone to see, even if his face was mostly a shadow. "So that’s why I have those..."

Rean and Roan looked at each other, already guessing what Xian was thinking. "Memories?"

Xian shook his head but then nodded. "Yes and no. I wouldn’t call them proper memories... I never understood why I could use the laws; they just came naturally to me and the other Umbras. Now and then, I have some flashes of moments I’ve never experienced, of places I’ve never been, from perspectives of different experts. But they are nothing but fragments, not enough to make a complete memory. All Umbras, as far as I know, have them. Now I understand why, it is because these fragments are not from a single being, but many of them."

Xian became sad in the next second. "I’m no one, I’m just like senior Roan said earlier, nothing but an agglomeration of emotions... undesired emotions..."

Rean glared at Roan.

"What?" Roan didn’t like Rean’s eyes. "It is the truth, idiot. It is better to know it now than later."

Roan didn’t stop there, though. "However, that also gives you a chance."

"A chance?" Xian was confused.

...to which Roan explained. "You already know that those flashes, fragments of memories, are all random, from different beings. That said, none of them is you. Even better, you already recognize those flashes as separate memories, not something of your own. Since that’s the case, the you here right now, who noticed this and found the truth, is someone new, unrelated to those memories, at most taking some influence from them but no more than that."

"You have your own memories, made in this place, and those are the ones that matter. From now on, you can be just you. Ignore those meaningless fragments; only use what is beneficial, like the fact that they helped you with your control over laws. You are you, you are Xian, and you will always be Xian."

It was hard to make out much from Xian’s expression due to his shadowy body. Yet, anyone would be able to tell he was quite emotional at the moment. Too bad some parts of what Roan said were still slightly difficult for this kid to understand. "Senior Roan speaks some weird things... but I think I understand."

Rean smiled, putting a hand on Xian’s shoulder. However, he changed to a Divine Sense message so Roan wouldn’t hear. ’See? He is scary, but also a softy. Don’t tell him that. He will never admit it.’

Roan wasn’t an idiot, knowing Rean was saying something to Xian. "What bullshit are you telling him now?"

"Hum?" Rean looked back. "Just the normal. How cold you are, how no one likes you, how everything is of no concern to you, the usual."

Roan’s mouth twitched. "How about I tell him how useless and annoying you are as well? That would be an understatement, though."

And so, Xian laughed again, which neither Rean nor Roan minded.