Death... and me

Chapter 3646: We Are Going Now!

Why does Roan believe they need to accept the Darkness and whatever is added to it? The answer actually came from Sister Orb once they noticed the effects the Darkness had on the mind.

[That’s weird. If this Darkness is truly having such an effect on your mind, that also includes the soul. The System protects all four of your souls against anything harmful. If the System isn’t doing that now, then is this environment really harmful to the mind?]

Indeed, since the system isn’t protecting them against it, it is because it can’t truly cause any harm. That’s how the system worked, and although the twins wouldn’t simply believe it was infallible, it still hasn’t given them a reason to doubt its soul-protecting power.

So, Roan’s orders were very clear once the time arrived, just accept everything.

Rifindio was the first one to give up resisting and follow Roan’s orders. Of course, Kentucky, Celis, and Rean had done that already. They never doubted Roan when it came to such things. Then, it was Royer and Elsie, leaving only a perplexed Werkel looking at them.

"Fuck! Be what it may!" Finally, he also let go of any resistance, and the Darkness assaulted his mind, just like it did to the twins’s group.

For a few moments, everyone felt the torment of their actions. However...

*Zush!*

Out of nowhere, everything around changed. Their sights distorted briefly before they found themselves in a very well-lit room. As for the torment, despair, or whatever, it was all gone as if none had ever happened.

"This..." Werkel quickly got up, looking around. There were windows around, so it was possible to see the outside. Dense vegetation made it hard to see too far, though. Were they in the middle of a forest? And from the size, they seemed to be inside a worn old hut that hadn’t seen anyone for years.

Roan was already walking out. Outside, he looked to the sky... or the ceiling, actually. They are inside the Golden Palace, after all. Any ’sky’ they see would usually be just some projection, illusion, or whatever, if a sky appears at all. "Took long enough to arrive into the next region."

Rean got by his side. "I feel like I shouldn’t have used my Light Sphere and Major Laws of Light from the very start. If I hadn’t, we would have reached this conclusion a long time ago. We lost a lot of time to anyone who might have known what the Darkness Region was about."

Rean was right there. His Light Sphere and Light Laws indeed inhibited the previous region’s darkness and laws of darkness. That contributed to everyone taking a lot longer to be affected by the environment.

Werkel calmed down and felt jealous of how composed the twins looked. Even Royer on the side didn’t look as good as those two. It was hard to believe, but they were right. The trick of the previous region was to accept the darkness. Accept the torment.

Royer took a look at his medallion, commenting to the twins through Divine Sense. ’So that’s what Eternal Darkness meant...’

Rean and Roan nodded. ’We believe so. If you fought the darkness, you would stay in that region forever, so Eternal Darkness suited it. Well, you would stay at least until the Golden Palace closed. It was indeed a clue, although a terrible one.’

For the twins, Sister Orb’s words were the real clue there.

"What about Lindiho, Grititi, and Cafantrie?" Kentucky asked out of curiosity.

Rean shrugged. "You felt that burst of Divine Energy, didn’t you. I doubt they survived whatever they found at their ’exit’ back there."

"Turns out there has never been an exit to start with..." Werkel sighed, thinking about how close he was to follow in Cafantrie’s steps. "Let’s hope they survived somehow. Who knows? We haven’t seen their bodies, so they might have escaped somehow... or they are still trapped there."

Roan glanced at him. If they survived, then being trapped was a lot more likely. After all, there was a difference between accepting the Darkness of that region and simply losing to it. Roan doubted those who lost to it after fighting until the end would be sent to the next region. They probably died instead.

"Anyway, Royer, Werkel, you are now the last two with experience regarding the Golden Palace. Do any of you two know this place?" Celis went back to the main objective.

Royer looked to the ceiling, narrowing his eyes. "Let’s climb the trees so I can take a good look around. I had been to a region of dense forest before, but there is more than just one. Maybe it is the region I’m thinking about."

Everyone nodded, and they quickly found a big tree to climb. Up there, Royer took a good look at the surroundings, and his eyes lit up. In fact, not only his but so did the twins’ group. Rean, Roan, Celis, and Kentucky didn’t need to ask to understand.

A towering, semi-transparent tree growing from the ground and piercing the ceiling could easily be seen from where they are. The leaves, which were also enormous, shimmered like moving constellations. Royer truly wasn’t kidding when he gave the twins that description. That tree was a sight to behold!

"Hahaha!" Royer laughed. "See? Told you it was impressive. We were lucky, too. We need to be at a certain distance from the Astral Tree to be able to see it. We just happened to be sent quite close to it. Look, it is very high, and it will take a lot of effort to get there, but you should be able to see the Crystal Pods from here. That’s where the Starlight Energy can be found... once they ripe."

Werkel was completely lost. "What? What are you talking about? What is that tree?"

Royer did his part, sharing his experience of what the Astral Tree was about with Werkel. "And that’s about it. Definitely a great treasure for anyone who cultivates with Starlight Energy."

Werkel didn’t look that happy, though. "Do I need to go up that tree to reach the next region?"

"Not sure," Royer shook his head. "Back then, this was the last region I managed to reach before the ten years were over. I tried to climb it, but I didn’t go that far in the end. Perhaps we can find a portal somewhere while climbing the tree, but I can’t guarantee it."

Roan got down and began to make his way to the tree. "Werkel, all you need to know is that for Rean, Celis, Kentucky, and I, this tree is more important than any Celestial Realm secret. You can see our cultivation, after all. And since we will climb it, there is no point hiding that we use Starlight Energy to cultivate. It is up to you if you want to follow us or stay on the ground waiting. Or maybe you just want to travel to the next region on foot. You can do whatever you want. Alright, let’s go."

Rean and the others quickly got down, leaving a lost Werkel behind. Of course, Werkel quickly caught up to them since they weren’t at the tree yet. He would decide what to do on the way.

However, before they went too far, the scenery changed. From above, things that looked like planets, meteors, even suns, began to fall down. The ceiling itself changed, now a picture of a night sky from where all those spectral astral bodies came from.

"Shit!" Royer cursed.

"We are so far from the tree, and it already started?" Roan was surprised to see that.

"No!" Royer shook his head. "If we are seeing it now, it is because someone is already climbing it. Our lives just got a lot worse now. What do you want to do? Retreat far away and wait?"

That option wasn’t even considered... especially for Celis. "Your ass! They might be stealing my pods! MY, STARLIGHT, ENERGY, PODS! We are going now!!!"

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