Death… And Me

Chapter 3789: Our Range

And so, the plan was put into practice. Xian made sure that other Umbras couldn’t sense the twins’ group’s souls and intentions, while Erxando’s presence ensured that no one would try to attack Xian, who was hiding Rean, Roan, and Kentucky. Let’s not forget that Kentucky can’t enter the Dimensional Realm anymore.

Asking Erxando about how many Level Three Umbras you could find in this region of the Umbral Field, Erxando said that there weren’t many. From what he said, becoming a Level Three Umbra was anything but easy. Why?

Well, the reason was actually pretty simple. What categorizes a Level Three Umbra is the ability to use Celestial Laws. However, even Celestial Laws have to be comprehended. In the Umbras’ cases, they don’t comprehend anything. Instead, they inherit their comprehension from the memory fragments that gave birth to them.

How many Celestial Realm Experts exist in Universe D33? The twins weren’t sure, but it was likely that there was only one, the Universe Owner. Whether a Rank D Universe could hold more Celestial Realm experts than a single one or not, that was unknown.

Of course, it wouldn’t necessarily mean they need Celestial Realm Experts. Instead, Semi-Celestial Realm experts were a lot more likely to be found. Considering the concentration of energy and the apparent presence of Divine Origin Energy naturally in the air, it was a very safe bet.

Still, we are talking about experts who at least attempted to reach the Celestial Realm on their own and failed. There weren’t many of those either. They could use Celestial Laws, and that was possibly the memory fragments and emotions that gave birth to Umbras capable of reaching Level Three.

If you had no such memory fragments, there was no possibility of reaching Level Three. When the twins asked Erxando about this problem, he pointed out two possibilities. One, you were born with that kind of comprehension, and only needed the necessary amount of Shadow/Emotional Energy. It was pretty similar to the twins’ group, which only required energy and had no need for laws’ comprehension at the moment.

The second method was the same one Erxando mentioned if he loses his comprehension of the normal Major Laws. You try to absorb an Umbra who does have the memory fragments and emotions that contain the comprehension of Celestial Laws.

The problem with the multiplication of Level Three Umbras was exactly there. How many Celestial/Semi-Celestial Realm Experts appear each time? Then, you had to get the right conditions for an Umbra to be born from the memory fragments and emotional energy of such experts. Let’s not forget that an Umbra is born of the fusion of many, many of those fragments and emotions.

Last but not least, that Umbra would need to survive until he gathered the necessary amount of Shadow/Emotional Energy to get to Level Three. Or, at least, survive enough time for an Umbra to absorb his memories and use them to reach Level Three himself.

Umbras almost never try to absorb the memory of other Umbras because of the risks of losing oneself. So, if the attacking Umbra wasn’t sure his opponent had comprehension of Celestial Laws, they would almost never try to absorb memory fragments of others.

”This kind of situation only becomes more common when you are very close to Level Three,” Erxando explained. ”When the Umbras who don’t have that kind of comprehension in their memories reach the limit of Level Two, they can only risk absorbing other Umbras of similar level.”

”No Level Two Umbra will be idiot enough to tell others that he was born with such memory fragments and Celestial Laws comprehension. Saying such a thing would literally make all Level Two Umbras of the Umbral Field your enemies. So, peak Level Two Umbras can only absorb similar Umbras, and it is basically a shot in the dark.”

Kentucky narrowed his eyes. ”Is it worth taking such a risk? As much as they might want to reach Level Three, the idea of losing oneself seems more than enough to give up instead. I would rather be myself and weak than be strong but someone completely different.”

”There is no other choice,” Erxando shook his head. ”If Umbras don’t increase their level, they will become part of the Umbral Field.”

”So Level Two Umbras also have a time limit?” The twins asked.

”Yes,” Erxando confirmed. ”Level One Umbras have around 300 years. As for Level Two, they have around 1200. If you don’t get to Level Three by then, you will lose control of your mind and fly into the Constructor Orbs, becoming part of the landscape. And I will be honest, 1200 years is way too little.”

”If you weren’t born with the comprehension of Celestial Laws, your chances of absorbing someone who has such comprehension are nearly zero. So, as soon as a Level Two umbra gets close to Level Three, they will do one thing and one thing only, look for more Level Two Umbras near that same moment.”

”Shouldn’t they try to go after weaker Umbras?” Xian asked, puzzled. ”They would be able to absorb many more in a smaller amount of time, especially if they targeted Level One Umbras. They wouldn’t be after Emotional Energy, after all, only memories.”

”That doesn’t work,” Erxando countered. ”Well, to be more specific, the chances of such a thing working are hundreds of thousands of times smaller than going after a similar level of Umbras. And absorbing the memory fragments of a similar Level Two Umbra is already a near-impossible bet to start with. That said, no one would really try it.”

Roan could see why. ”There are way too few Umbras lucky enough to be born with Celestial Laws comprehension. However, at the same time, those born with a comprehension of Celestial Laws received those memory fragments from a living expert who had reached that level. That means such Umbras are naturally stronger and way, way more likely to reach the Peak of Level Two. So, as far as bets go, betting on a Peak Level Two Umbra is many times more realistic than trying a thousand Level One Umbras.”

Rean agreed. ”The critical point here is the risk of losing oneself, becoming someone different. Absorbing the memories of a single Peak Level Two Umbra, who is many times more likely to have the right comprehension, is much better since the risk of losing oneself in the process is much lower. In the end, the only disadvantage of targeting similar Peak Level Two Umbras is that the opponent is probably just as strong as you. But that is much better than losing oneself, since, as far as we can see, losing oneself is pretty much the same as dying.”

Erxando was happy they understood so fast. ”Yes, everything you said is correct. So, Peak Level Two Umbras will only target the memory fragments of other Peak Level Two Umbras or Level Two Umbras close to that stage.”

The more the twins’ group heard about this place, the harsher they understood the environment was for the Umbras.

”Hum?” Suddenly, both Xian and Erxando noticed something. ”A Level Three Umbra entered our range.”