Death… And Me

Not long after that, Palaris and Ophele finally decided to enter Rean's room. They didn't do so until now because they were afraid of disturbing him since that might cause a backlash while he was still in the process of calming his foundation down.

Seeing that Rean looked fine, Palaris sighed in relief as he said, "Sigh...boy, you really succeeded." 

Though, his expression turned dark right after as he continued, "What the hell were you thinking? There are no such things as Light or Dark Element cultivation manuals. This breakthrough you did was definitely high-risk. What if you failed and destroyed your cultivation?"

Rean looked back at Palaris with confusion as he responded, "Why would that be a problem? I'm just a human. Even if something happens to me, none of the Zasfins would care that much."

Ophele snorted as she said in response, "Hmph! Usually, that would be the case. However, your talent and ideas when it comes to formations are just way too important for us. We can't have you losing your cultivation and be unable to work on formations anymore, let alone dying."

She then continued, not caring about Rean himself, "If that really happens, then we'll send you straight to your brother. Understood?"

Surprisingly, Rean kneeled down in front of Ophele before saying, "Yes, your majesty! This humble human understands how worried you are about this subject. Unfortunately, our standings are just too far apart. For your own good, this human can't accept your love."

Palaris and the people watching Rean through Spiritual Sense could not help but open their eyes widely! Love? What love? Could it be that something happened to these two while they weren't looking?

Hearing that, Ophele's face changed between various shades of dark and red, not knowing whether to feel furious or embarrassed.

*Bang!*

She immediately kicked Rean away soon after, stopping the act. "Fuck you! Who the hell would love a human? Say that one more time and see if I don't cut your head myself! Who the hell would fall in love with a slave? Hmph!" Ophele immediately turned around and left after that.

Rean, on the other hand, was laughing out loud inside. 'Hahaha! So funny. As expected, she's all bark but no bite.' Rean then used his Light Element to heal the injury in his chest internally before getting up.

Palaris, on the other hand, sighed as he told him, "Rean, you better not joke like that anymore. My granddaughter is pretty much the spitting image of my daughter-in-law. She gets angry very fast and wouldn't hold back when punishing others." Palaris felt that he had to warn Rean. Sure enough, everyone understood that Rean was just messing with Ophele a moment ago.

Rean nodded as he laughed, saying, "Hahaha! It's fine, it's fine. I'm just a human, so she won't be angry for long. She'll just think that I'm not worth her anger and go back to normal."

"This..." Palaris had to admit that Rean was right. "Well, try to hold back a little since it'll be bad if she suddenly decides to kill you." After that, Palaris changed the topic as he said, "In any case, she's right. You can't risk things like that. Your talent in formations is just too important to us. That's why you're treated this well even though you're a human. You must understand that Sevinia had to pay a high price to have you on our side."

Rean smiled in response, saying, "Alright, I'll try to not tease her too much. By the way, there's no need for Senior Palaris to feel afraid of my breakthroughs. I wouldn't try to do it if I wasn't sure that I could succeed.  Even without a cultivation manual for Light Element Affinity, I'm still quite good at cultivating without it."

Even though Rean assured his worries, Palaris felt that it was still dangerous. However, he didn't say anything since Rean wouldn't make another breakthrough anytime soon. After all, he was just in the Initial Stage of the Core and Soul Fusion Realm. He still had three stages to go through before trying to enter the Nascent Soul Realm. "Very well. Now then, come with me. Since you're in the Core and Soul Fusion Realm now, I want you to look into Earth Peak-Level Formation Runes. Your foundation is definitely chaotic because of your breakthrough, so it's better if you don't cultivate for a while."

Roan, who was listening to everything, agreed with Palaris, saying, 'That guy's right. Let's refrain from cultivating for the next three to four weeks. Instead, practice your Soul Cultivation during this time. Our Souls have become stronger with this last breakthrough, so it should reflect in our Soul Power cultivation.'

Rean agreed with Roan, responding, 'Alright. I'm also going to try these next few weeks if I can have Palaris show me the Soul Stone Formations.'

Roan and Rean then focused on their own things from that point onwards as Sister Orb taught Kentucky better vocabulary. As Rean mentioned, he came up with an excuse to ask about the Soul Stone Formation two weeks later. "Elder Palaris, would it be possible for me to see how Soul Stones are made? I believe they're also formations, just like the Bloodline Trial Control Formations, right?"

Palaris's group became puzzled as one of them asked, "Why would you ask to see that?"

Rean answered right after, "I want to use it as a base for the Soul Runes. If I'm not wrong, it transforms human souls into Soul Stones. There's definitely some conversion being made there. I want to use the idea behind those formations to make a Spiritual and Soul Convergence Rune."

Palaris shook his head as he responded, "It'll most likely be useless. Without Soul Power, you can't create Soul Runes, so there's no point in showing you that."

Ophele, who was there as well, nodded as she continued where Palaris left off, "Grandfather's right. Don't waste your time on meaningless things. After all, your time is also our time."

Rean looked at them with confusion as he said in response, "What are you talking about? I can also use Soul Power, you know?" Soon after that, Rean's Soul Power manifested around his body, albeit slightly weaker. Nevertheless, it was definitely Soul Power.

"Impossible!" Everyone screamed at the same time. "Humans should not be able to use Soul Power!"

Rean narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Why?"

"Because you aren't a Zasfi-" It was then that an idea surfaced on Palaris's mind. "Wait, could it be...Still..."

This time, even Rean was surprised. He had already thought of an excuse to show his Soul Power. Nevertheless, it seemed like Palaris already had an idea himself, so he waited to see what Palaris wanted to say.

Palaris wasn't the only one. Ophele also had the same idea as him as the two approached Rean and looked deeply at him. "He looks slightly different than the human slaves we have, no?"

Rean could not help but let out a bit of cold sweat from that, thinking to himself, 'Could it be that they found out I'm not from this world?'

Ophele and Palaris then brought a few more humans to stand on Rean's side. Sure enough, although they were very similar, Rean did have a few traits that the other humans here didn't. It couldn't be helped. After all, Rean was born on another planet. In fact, it was quite a surprise that humans of this planet only looked a little bit different. Nevertheless, the difference between him and them was there. It's just that none of the Zasfins or the humans cared to pay attention before.

"Ahem...is anything wrong?" Rean asked that as he prepared to enter the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. Roan also did the same as he looked at the current situation through their connection.

Suddenly, Palaris nodded as he asked, "Rean, you...you said that the Zasfin who raised you wasn't really your father, right? Tell me, do you have any memories of your parents back then?"

"This..." Rean was taken aback. However, he quickly understood what was happening and gave up escaping to the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. "I don't remember. Why?" Rean quickly changed his plans as he asked that.

Ophele then explained, "It isn't anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes, there are a few disgusting Zasfins that feel attracted to their human slaves. It happens more times to the male Zasfins than the female ones, of course. In any case, it happens on both sides."

Rean mentally smiled as he kept an expression of shock, asking them, "Are you saying that I might be half-Zasfin and half-human?"

Palaris confirmed with a nod. "Exactly. Only that would explain why you can use Soul Power."

Palaris's words also helped Roan understand another point. 'Judging from their surprise, it seems like there are really no humans on this planet that can use Soul Power. I can't tell if it's because the humans had been slaves for too long or if it's a special trait of this world's humans to not be able to use Soul Power.'

Rean agreed, responding, 'Indeed. Well, that's mostly because the Zasfins don't let humans obtain high-level soul marks. Anyways, let's leave it aside for now.'

Rean then scratched the back of his head as he responded, "I really have no idea. I just know that at some point in our life, my brother and I could use it." Of course, that was a lie, but Rean wouldn't tell the truth either.

Palaris pondered over the situation for a bit as he muttered, "I know about the hybrids between humans and Zasfins. The majority is killed before being born with their mothers or right after they come out if the mother is a Zasfin. Nevertheless, there are exceptions. It's just that those who manifest Soul Power are extremely rare, even between those hybrids."

Ophele shrugged her shoulders as she said, "So what? Look at the strength of his Soul Power. It's ridiculous! Well, I guess it's still good since he can help with the Soul runes. As for the fact that he can use Soul Runes, let's keep that between us. It would be annoying if that geezer Puan demands to take Rean back." 

Rean's expression became as bright as the sun as he smiled at Ophele, saying, "Thank you, Miss Ophele. I knew you couldn't bear to part with me!"

Ophele almost vomited blood after hearing that! "Who the hell cares about you?!"

Rean already understood that Ophele was just too easy to be teased. With that in mind, he had an idea on how he could make use of this flaw in the future. 

'Don't blame me since it's not like you think that well about humans either,' Rean thought with a playful smile.