Death... and me

Rean and Roan were taken aback by that, with Rean asking, "What?! Is there something else?"

[Just sit and watch. Your easy lives will become quite complicated from now on. Hahaha!] Sister Orb said as she laughed.

A few seconds later, the Dimensional Realm seemed to tremble once again. The spatial borders seemed to grow stronger, making the twins' ability to see the outside world disappear. Following that, Rean and Roan felt their control over the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm weaken.

"This..." Naturally, they couldn't understand why that was happening.

Nevertheless, those questions didn't last long. That's because the system soon started to talk in its robotic voice once again.

[Phase Two Initialized.]

[Hosts have obtained the initial boost in power provided by the Soul Gem System. However, Hosts must rely more on themselves. That being said, Hosts' control over the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm has now been downgraded due to their higher level and experience.]

Roan narrowed his eyes, already guessing what that meant. Fortunately, the Soul Gem System continued to explain.

[From now on, hosts are denied access to the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm if danger is present. It will be up to the Soul Gem System to decide if the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm is available for use or not.]

[Warning: Hosts must be aware that even if they are at risk of imminent death, they will not be given access to the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm.]

[Second Warning: It won't be possible to bring anything out of the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm if hosts are in danger. Hosts must be careful to and keep the things they consider important outside.]

[Third Warning: Soul Gem Dimensional Realm won't allow any sentient living beings not connected to the hosts in a month's time. They will all be expelled after the time is up.]

[New feature added: Soul Gem Dimensional Realm Entry Pass. This feature allows hosts to mark a specific living being not connected to them to enter the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. Each pass costs 10000 Destiny Points.]

With that, the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm finished its explanation.

Rean and Kentucky, of course, were shocked after hearing all of that. After all, they did really count on the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm up to this point. "Is that really fine?! What if we get in a really shitty situation?"

Sister Orb laughed in response, saying, [Hahaha! Didn't you hear? Even if you are in an imminent death situation, you won't be allowed to enter it.]

"But..." Rean was just about to continue when suddenly, Roan cut him off.

"Enough! What is there to complain about? If you haven't noticed yet, it just means we're now playing on an even field as other cultivators. In fact, we still have the advantage of using the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm on different occasions." Roan didn't seem disappointed. Instead, he looked very satisfied. "I hated this idea of always being able to escape. But in the end, even I've gotten used to it. Now, our real training can finally start."

Kentucky then landed on Roan's side, saying, "As expected of death, no fear of dying at all."

"Hmph!" Roan ignored Kentucky's remark and looked back at Sister Orb, asking, "By the way, what about the other abilities? I want to know what the new title gives us."

[Oh, right! There was that as well.] Sister Orb then began to explain. [You got the Grade 2 Efficiency Title. Look over there.] Sister Orb used Spiritual Energy to point in a specific direction. There, Rean and Roan saw that a new formation had appeared. Or, to be more precise, a Circuitry Formation, a very big one at that. [That's the World Essence Gathering Formation.]

"World Essence Formation? Does it have anything to do with the World Essence Celis talked about before?" Rean asked, puzzled.

Roan had another question as well, asking, "What is the difference between the Universe Essence we got that time and the World Essence?"

[You are both correct. World Essence is similar to the Universe Essence you got before. Of course, the latter is a lot more efficient. Also, it's the same one that Celis had gathered after a long time.] Sister Orb continued, [The World Essence that this formation is gathering is coming from the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm itself. After all, it's not wrong to say that the Dimensional Realm is a tiny planet itself. Naturally, it also generates World Essence.]

Celis, who had been listening to everything until now, then explained, "In my case, I used World Essence to increase my own cultivation. How can I say it...? It's much better than Spiritual Energy." Kentucky already gave him a quick explanation of the twins' situation and what the system was about through Spiritual Sense messages. That's why he could already give his opinion in that conversation.

Celis couldn't help but feel somewhat sad as he said, "Sadly, the system took everything from me. I intended to use that to break through into the next level. As long as a chance of escaping the Soul Rulers came, I would try it straight away. Unfortunately, I have nothing anymore."

"World Essence...something better than Spiritual Energy..." Rean couldn't help but have many ideas now that he heard of it.

[That is only one of its uses. You can figure out what else you might use this thing for in the future,] Sister Orb said, excited.

Roan narrowed his eyes, asking another question, "Would it be a bad thing to take the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm's World Essence away?"

[No. Unlike what Celis was doing to the planet, the World Essence Circuitry Formation only gathers small bits of it that escape involuntarily. It doesn't touch the main source itself. Besides, it's many times more efficient than Celis was.]

Celis couldn't help but defend himself, responding, "It's not like I had much choice, okay? If a moment came that I could use to escape, I would need everything I could use. Naturally, I had little time to think about the world."

Roan thought that to be the case, soon saying, "Alright. Then, let's move to the authority level. It's time to ask more questions to the Soul Gem System."