Rean still found it a little strange. "I’m surprised that these stronger Level Two Umbras don’t leave this place."
Which Roan agreed. "It would have been much faster if they simply flew to the border and started robbing all the young Level One Umbras of their energy. There would be no risks there. They could totally ignore those Stronger Level One Umbras, and the weak ones probably could barely cause trouble even if they fought back."
Xian rembered sothing. "Oh, right! One of my Big brothers once told that Level Two Umbras like Calanti and Tissal were the limit. If any stronger Umbra were to co to absorb the Young Umbras’ Shadow Energy, they wouldn’t gain anything at all."
"So it is a problem with the quality of Shadow Energy, uh?" Roan comnted.
Seeing that Xian and Rean were puzzled, Roan continued. "It is a filter. The higher the level of the Umbra, the better its Shadow Energy. The Shadow Energy from young Level One Umbras, which would be sothing like an Initial Stage Level One, is simply too impure for those above Level Two Middle Stage."
"Oh!" Xian definitely could see that.
Rean understood another point Roan touched on. "So you are dividing the Umbras between Initial, Middle, Late, and Peak Stage just like the normal cultivations, is it?"
"Yes," Roan confird. "It is possible since there are different levels of strength within the sa level. They don’t really have cultivations, but the laws they control can be used to differentiate between them."
"Yes, it is a good idea," Rean decided to do the sa.
"So that’s why I gained so much from that Umbra," Xian suddenly rembered the Umbra he absorbed. "Because he was Level Two, I benefited many tis more than I should have just because of the quality, not the quantity."
"Yes," Roan could see it now, too. "Your power of laws at the mont would make you a Peak Stage Level One Umbra. If you had absorbed the sa amount of Shadow Energy from those Level Zero Umbras, the mindless ones, the story would be different. Forget about Peak Stage, you might not even have reached the Late Stage. I’m pretty sure now that quality makes the whole difference for Umbras."
"So it wasn’t because of my Purification Skill either," Rean nodded. "That makes a lot more sense. I truly found it hard to believe my Purification Skill could make Shadow Energy better. I understand that mixing it with Shadow Energy helped heal Xian’s soul, but it didn’t make sense that he gained more power from it."
"That also explains why you never saw a Level Three Umbra at the border. Level One Umbras are absolutely useless for them. The better thing for them to do is to leave the Level One and Two Umbras alone until they increase their level. Only then do they go out and harvest it."
Roan glanced at the little eye poking out of his shoulder. "You should have told us earlier about this. Did your Big Brothers and Sisters tell you anything else important?"
Xian felt a little embarrassed. "Sorry, Senior Roan. I’m not very smart... Let think a little more."
Rean smiled. "Don’t worry. Just take your ti and get used to it. Information is a powerful weapon; rember that. Your Big Brothers and Sisters definitely did, and that’s why they told you about it."
In the end, Xian couldn’t rember anything else relevant. Or perhaps there wasn’t a trigger for such mories to surface. In any case, Xian continued to think as the twins made their way forward.
---
Slightly over two weeks had gone by. If you count the ti since they arrived at the Umbral Field, Rean and Roan had been here for slightly over a month. The only Level Two Umbras you could find now were those at the Late and Peak Stage. Those at Middle Stage and below wouldn’t dare co this far into the Umbral Field, afraid they would beco easy targets.
’Celis, how are things on your side?’ Rean asked through Sister Orb. Even though they flew for over a month, the new Soul Connection Range was truly enormous. One can’t look down on a one-light-year distance.
Celis was faring quite well. ’Everything is going according to plan. Foliana’s addition helped eliminate so annoying flies much faster, too. So far, it doesn’t seem like anyone has noticed anything different.’
Rean could see Celis’s plan. ’You are also allowing so of those Level Two Umbras to do as they please now and then, aren’t you?’
Celis smiled. ’Indeed. I couldn’t really kill all of them, you know? If I did, all the Young Umbras in this area would begin to accumulate Shadow Energy in grand quantities. Once they were found out, this place would beco a giant target for all Initial and Middle Stage Level Two Umbras. So, I have to let a few of them capture the kids while I observe. If I see they won’t kill the kids, Foliana and I don’t make a move. You said it yourself, my job is to keep Hura and the kids safe, not to make them fill their bellies with Shadow Energy.’
’Hahaha!’ Rean laughed. That was indeed a good plan. ’I’m surprised Hura didn’t complain about it.’
’Not only did she not complain, she understood that principle very well,’ Celis comnted. ’If anything, she is happy enough that none of the kids are getting near death like before.’
’Good, good!’ Rean nodded. ’Anyway, I’ll leave you and Foliana to it. You still can ask Kentucky to co out to help if things go wrong. Good luck over there.’
’Understood,’ Celis cut their conversation after that.
Roan was also pleased that everything was progressing smoothly. By now, neither Rean nor Roan needed Kentucky anymore. That Spatial Connection in the ancient runes, when they tried to open Spatial Gates, beca relatively easy to identify with their own Spatial and Ti abilities.
*Rumble...*
However, a day later, the space began to shake, forcing the twins to stop on their tracks.
They looked around, wondering if anyone had found them, but there didn’t seem to be Umbras in their Divine Senses’ Ranges. Then, everything went pitch black.
At the sa ti it happened, Kentucky’s voice echoed in the twins’ minds. ’Guys, the clock is beeping.’
Imdiately, the twins understood. "The Banishing Light?"
Yes, that was the clock the twins got before coming to this place. Every one thousand hours, it would beep, alerting its owner of the incoming banishing light, the sa light that seals one’s evil emotions behind the fabric of space.
The darkness lasted just a mont, just like it happened with the banishing light outside. Another point was that this ’dark’ banishing light had absolutely no effect on the twins’ souls. The system didn’t even need to act. Obviously, the ’dark’ banishing light didn’t have the sa properties as the real light outside.
It didn’t matter to the twins, though. Instead, another possibility appeared in their minds.
"Could the Umbral Field be connected to those ’Light Spreaders’ from outside?" Rean asked. "We didn’t see this darkness taking over the place before we entered the Umbral Field."
Indeed, when Roan was traveling outside the Umbral Field, he spent months there, and never once did the area around him go dark like it did now. As explained in the past, the Light Spreaders were responsible for spreading the Banishing Light across the entire Universe, encompassing the Underworld, the Divine Realm, the Heavens, and the Mortal Realm.
Roan agreed. "It would be way too much of a coincidence if it didn’t."
But he ignored it right after. "Forget that. Let’s keep going."
However, at that mont, Xian felt a chill in his soul. "Not good! Seniors, we have been found!"
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