Death… And Me

Chapter 3769: This Won’t Do

Roan walked to the end of the tunnel on the installation’s side. Looking at the enormous black sphere buildings floating in that place, he tried to understand what they were about.

Meanwhile, Rean asked Xian other things. "Right, Xian, you said that Umbras can feel the intentions of living beings like us, didn’t you? How did you hide us from Calanti earlier then? By the way, do you mind if I call your emotional energy just shadow energy instead? It makes things easier to understand."

Xian extracted a little bit of his shadow/emotional energy. "Shadow Energy is fine, it fits." Then he explained what he knew. "You see, it’s our bodies. We can’t feel each other’s intentions because of the emotional energy that we are made of. I just covered you with some of my own emotional energy... or shadow energy... and that blocked the intentions from your souls from coming out."

"I see..." Rean nodded. "How old are you, Xian? Do you know?"

Xian pondered a bit. "I’m not sure, but my oldest memories that I can still remember of this place go back at least fifty years."

Rean was taken aback. Wasn’t Xian way too childish for someone that old? Not only that, the properties of a newborn soul were still evident in Rean’s eyes. But quickly, he remembered something.

He took a good look at Xian, who was still very transparent due to the lack of shadow energy. "I almost forgot. How harmful is it to have your energy taken away? Also, how dangerous is it to absorb those mindless shadows outside? Are there any side effects? Would you like to absorb more if you could?"

"So many questions..." Xian felt overwhelmed.

"Oh, sorry." Rean felt a little embarrassed. "Just answer the first question about the absorption process in both cases."

"Both are pretty bad," Xian explained.

Turns out that once the energy of an Umbra is taken away, they also lose some of their memories. Xian knew that because he had seen other Level One Umbras being sucked dry, just like he was. In a certain way, it was similar to what happened to the Semi-Celestials when they tried to modify the major laws in their favor. It’s just that they didn’t lose memories, but comprehension of laws instead.

That confirmed one thing to Rean. Simply put, it also contributed to the late mental development of these new Umbras. Rean wondered if Xian would still have this slightly childish mentality if he had never experienced such moments.

Losing memories wasn’t the only problem. Xian explained that when he absorbed those mindless Umbras, the flashes, which now he knew were memories of their previous owners, would try to invade his own mind. They attacked his mind sea in his soul while they kept trying to get free. And it was a constant struggle to keep them from causing harm to oneself. Worst-case scenario, you would go crazy.

Hearing that, Roan understood another point. "Is that the reason why the Level Two Umbras don’t try to take the mindless Umbras? The reason why they come for weak Umbras like you?"

Xian confirmed. "Yes. If you are careful, you can avoid it from happening. But there is always a risk, and after absorbing so many, no one knows if you would cause a mishap. So, those higher-level Umbras would always target lower-level ones like us. We are afraid to die, so if we struggle and try to attack their minds back, they will kill us. We can only bear with the pain and the loss of memories while our shadow energy is taken away."

Rean sighed and moved to the next question. "Other than intelligence and sentience, is there a difference between you and the Umbras outside?"

"I believe our soul is the main difference," Xian continued.

Different from Umbras like him, who have sentience, the mindless Umbras didn’t have complete souls. Their kind of pseudo-souls were in constant development, starting from nothing but those agglomerations of emotional energy, which one day would grow complex enough to give the Umbra a sentience.

That said, Xian still didn’t like to absorb them. After all, they could one day become Umbras like him. It’s just that he didn’t have another choice. If he didn’t absorb those mindless Umbras, he would die. The higher-level Umbras, like Calanti, would come by to take the energy. If they had nothing to offer, they had no use to Calanti, and he would kill them as a result. So, not doing it would be worse than the risk of going crazy.

Still, Roan narrowed his eyes. "Why would you care about the mindless Umbras? So what if they could become sentient Umbras like you? As far as I’ve seen, all the Umbras are pretty much on each other’s necks."

"No!" Xian quickly denied that. "We aren’t all like that! Seniors, come with me." Then, Xian used a little of his shadow energy to cover Rean and Roan again.

The twins looked at each other, and Rean used his Light Bending Skill to also disappear from sight. Only then did they follow Xian.

It took a few tens of minutes, but they finally arrived at the right location. It was one of those enormous floating black sphere constructions. Xian touched it on the side, and his energy merged with it for a moment before an opening appeared.

As soon as he did that, several Umbras charged out!

Rean and Roan quickly summoned their Elemental Intent Weapons... just for them to put those weapons away in the next second. Those shadows were all like Xian, small, child-like appearances, and many of them were almost as transparent as Xian himself.

"Big brother!"

"Brother!"

"You came back!"

They all surrounded Xian, who seemed like their pillar of support.

Xian smiled at them and was about to talk when a bigger Umbra came out of the sphere. "Quick, the newest Umbra is at his limit. No, wait! You... You are almost empty!"

Xian didn’t seem to care as his face turned serious. "Doesn’t matter! I can bear it!"

That bigger Umbra, who didn’t look much better than Xian, could only nod. "Just be careful."

Xian rushed inside, and the twins, who were still invisible to everyone else, followed.

In there, an even smaller Umbra was floating, barely moving. He was actually more transparent than when Xian had his energy robbed by Tissal, showing his situation was even worse.

Still, Xian took his hand, and it became cloudy. "Just take it."

The small one slowly looked at Xian, and saw Xian wasn’t all that better. "But big brother..."

"I’m fine. I can get more." Xian didn’t care.

Only then did the little one absorb Xian’s shadow energy. His body stabilized, and he became able to move again. Naturally, Xian had to bear the pain of his shadow energy being taken away again during the process. Not to mention that his memories would once again be affected.

Yet, by the end of it, Xian seemed satisfied. Rean couldn’t help but wonder if Xian was truly as childish as he previously thought. At least, his actions just now pointed in the other direction. ’This won’t do...’