Death... and me

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ

Hurio's mouth twitched after hearing that. Doesn't that mean they would already be at the Middle Stage for quite a while after he entered the Elemental Transformation Realm? Up to that point, he thought that with his Energy Elemental Affinity, his cultivation speed was already very fast. But compared to these four guys and their simultaneous cultivation, he truly fell short, let alone the others.

The other cultivators noticed something else as well. If they sat closer to Celis' roots, they would be able to absorb more Divine Origin Energy. Hurio himself was in the best place, as all that Divine Origin Energy was converging on his side. Naturally, he was happy with that, even if he couldn't match the speed of the twins' group.

It was then that a peculiar sight was seen. During every Lost Star Selection, the cultivators would all try to stay as far as possible from each other while cultivating. This time, however, they all moved closer to Celis. Some even pondered whether they could take Celis for themselves or not. Unfortunately, the light barrier made it impossible.

Of course, Celis and the twins noticed that. But then again, as long as those people didn't try to bother them, they wouldn't say anything. In fact, the amount of time Hurio needed to reach his breakthrough was decreased. In the end, thanks to being at the center of Celis's absorption range, his dantian was filled up three hours earlier, much to his delight. "Hahaha! It's time for my breakthrough!"

Rean smiled in response, saying, "Nice, go ahead and charge into the Elemental Transformation Realm." But it was then that a question appeared in his mind. "Now that I think about it, what kind of catalyst would an Energy Elemental Affinity cultivator use?"

Hurio also smiled with a playful expression as he replied, "Hehe! You will definitely find it to be very unfair. My catalyst... is Divine Energy itself! Or, to be more specific, any kind of cultivation energy. In this case, I even have Divine Origin Energy to choose from. Hahaha! Just stay there and watch!"

Indeed, Hurio initiated his breakthrough into the Elemental Transformation Realm. Considering he had Divine Origin Energy for that, his breakthrough was far smoother than before. He simply didn't feel like he had a bottleneck at all. His breakthrough was so easy and fast that it didn't lose to the twins' speed with their Yin and Yang Cultivation Manual. "What great energy!"

Hurio then used his affinity to try to gather Divine Origin Energy, and sure enough, it increased even more. "Nice! I've never thought I would have the chance to use Divine Origin Energy as a catalyst. That surely increased my overall strength a lot more than if I had used Divine Energy instead. I can feel the Divine Origin Energy in my life essence, running through my entire body." Just as mentioned before, cultivators didn't understand the concept of cells, so Hurio also called it life essence.

Even Rean and Roan, with their system's Energy Absorption Upgrade at Level 4, couldn't gather Divine Origin Energy as fast as Hurio. The only one who was obviously better than Hurio at that was Celis. Rean then looked at Celis before saying, "Could it be that Celis is an Energy Affinity Demon Tree?"

Celis heard that and replied, "You're not wrong when you think like that. My race does indeed have a huge affinity with energy. It's just that, as a Demon Tree, I don't need such thing as catalysts."

Roan didn't care about that, though. "Alright. Now that you've broken through, go back and cultivate. At your current speed, I wouldn't be surprised if you reached the Peak Stage of the Elemental Transformation Realm before the week is over. The same goes for us since we have Celis's help."

Hurio then tried to calm down his excitement. "Alright, alright. I'll go back and cultivate."

Roan then looked at the faint light barrier around himself and narrowed his eyes. That was the barrier that protected everyone from attacking each other. 'As I thought. It has waned a little bit since we entered this place. At this rate, it should be gone in five days or so. This Divine Plane is supposed to be open for an entire week, which means that the last day will be open for anyone to do whatever they want.'

Rean, of course, heard what Roan was thinking through their Soul Connection. He then looked at the roof of that realm and could see that the portal was still there. 'I guess that's what they meant with leaving the Divine Plane after entering the Void Transformation Realm. The portal never closes, and once you enter it again, you'll be teleported somewhere randomly in the Lanqueas Continent. If we decide to leave just before the barrier disappears, we won't encounter any trouble. Of course, we would lose an entire day of Divine Origin Energy cultivation in exchange.'

Rean was right. The portal they used to enter this place from the third level of the Lost Star Realm's depths had already closed. But the one inside the Divine Plane wouldn't close at all. In fact, if there was still anyone present in this Divine Plane after one week, those guys would be dragged to the portal whether they wanted to or not.

It was then that Rean thought about a possibility. 'Roan... why do you think this place exists?'

Roan narrowed his eyes again as he asked in response, 'What do you mean by that?'

Rean then looked at all the Divine Origin Energy available in this place for cultivation. 'I might be wrong... but I believe this Divine Plane wasn't made as a reward for those who gathered the marks. Instead, we're here to help whoever created this place.'

Roan's eyes lit up as he could tell from where Rean was coming from. 'Excess Divine Origin Energy!'

Rean was happy that Roan understood. 'Exactly. Perhaps we're here to prevent this place from accumulating way too much Divine Origin Energy. That would also explain why there are patches of Divine Origin Energy appearing in random locations outside. Those patches are basically Divine Origin Energy that burst out of this place due to the pressure.'

The problem was, what did that mean?