Death... and me

Chapter 2908: Bad People

Rean went forward, having the same idea as Roan. He touched the sphere by the terminal. This time, however, he knew what he should do to control the Werdlem Stone on his body and have its energy guided. 'It is a little complicated to do it since I'm isolating the stone with Light Element. Fortunately, the example we needed to see about how the Werldem Stones worked was given by Glimmel himself. Let's see... Hum... I extract a little of the energy like this... then I empty the meridians... the hands, yes, the hands are good enough... It should be more or less like this...'

Immediately, the terminal showed Rean's Sansome Village ID and Rean's name. "Di-Did I do it right, senior. I-I'm sorry."

Glimmle sighed and patted Rean's head. "You did nothing wrong. No doubt our equipment had a mismatch of sorts. It wasn't either your or your brother's fault."

Roan, still with a stern expression, took the chance to ask. Well, he at least tried to be respectful. "Senior Glimmel. What is an Unidentified Werdlem Stone? Why is it such a big deal?"

Glimmel worked on a few options in his CD while he answered Roan's question. "Unidentified Werdlem Stones are only used by outlaws, the sort of scoundrels that refuse to be part of the Werdlem System."

Rean and Roan looked completely puzzled, which made Glimmel put his hand on his face, noticing his own mistake. "Right, you came from a pretty isolated place, so you obviously know nothing. Let me start it again."

"As your Village Chief probably explained already, a warrior can't cultivate without a Werdlem Stone. It is the stone that allows you to feel the cultivation energies of the world. You see, Werdlem Stones are also how a cultivator is identified inside the Werdlem System. The Werdlem System was made so that the empire would have full control over who can or can not cultivate."

"This way, the Werdlem Empire can prevent bad people from causing problems for the community as a whole. If a bandit, for example, can't use cultivation energies, he is basically the same as a mortal. You have a lot of mortals in your village, don't you?" Rean and Roan nodded and waited for Glimmel to continue. "That's about it. We can connect to the stone and stop that bandit from using cultivation energies. It makes it very easy to capture him and keep everyone safe."

"However..." Glimmel didn't stop there. "There are a few groups who created fake Werdlem Stones. Such stone can't be accessed by the system, so the bad people can still do bad things without being afraid of having their ability to cultivate stolen from them. Yet, they are truly idiots for taking such a path."

Roan pondered a bit and asked. "From the way you speak, it does feel like these fake stones have their own drawbacks."

Glimmel smiled and patted Roan's head. "Aren't you a smart kid? That is correct. The fake Werdlem Stones, or Unidentified Stones, can't give you a proper connection to the world around you. Cultivating with them is prone to leave behind many defects in one's cultivation. Shacky foundations, defective Dantians and Cores, clogged meridians, you name it. Anyone who resorts to this method only does so when they are up to no good."

Glimmel then warned the twins. "Do never try to use a fake stone, understood? Once you remove your real Werdlem Stone, there is no way back in the system. You are bound to live with that kind of defect for the rest of your lives. You don't want that, right?"

Rean and Roan nodded. "Thank you for explaining, senior Glimmel. We will definitely not take a fake Werdlem Stone."

"Well said," Glimmel was happy to hear that. He had no suspicion about the twins whatsoever. Of course, that was mainly because he couldn't see any cultivation in the twins' bodies, so he was certain the alarm earlier was a bug in the system identification program.

"Senior Glimmel," Rean quickly spoke. "What do we do now? Are we in trouble?"

*Beep, beep, beep...*

Glimmel smiled and finished messing with his CD. "Not anymore. I have already finished your registration in the Gondel Clan. You can go back to the registration office and get a room for yourselves. Also, a piece of advice. I can see you two are quite old already, so many of the kids at your age are far ahead in cultivation. You might feel sad, or they might mock you because of it. But do not let it get to you. I was also someone who arrived here much older than others, and today, I occupy a position in the clan higher than many of those who once caused trouble to me because of my age. Keep your heads high. As long as you are alive, there is hope. Understood?"

The twins nodded, and Rean even felt like laughing. If Glimmel just knew who they really were, he definitely wouldn't have such concerns. "Yes, senior Glimmel. Thank you."

Sometime later, Rean and Roan were brought back to the west side of the Gondel Clan. As one can expect, they caught a lot more eyes than previously. After all, no one expected they would return here after being caught with Unidentified Werdlem Stones.

'The soul reading and torture we were expecting didn't really happen...' Rean couldn't help but comment.

'Hmph!' Roan snorted. 'Underestimating us just because we are kids and have no cultivation. What a terrible protection system.'

Rean shrugged. 'It would be a lot harder to find anyone who wouldn't have such a reaction after seeing the two of us, you know? Well, I'm not complaining, that's for sure.'

"Hey, you two," It was then that a young man, probably around fifteen years of age, approached the twins. "I saw you being taken away earlier. What did did you do?"

Rean stopped for a moment while Roan didn't even bother to look at the guy.

Seeing that, Rean bitterly smiled and tried to talk. "Ahem... ignore my brother. He has social issues and is very shy when strangers come to talk to him. He is like a delicate flower that can die with the slightest touch, truly not worth wasting your time with."

Roan's mouth twitched, feeling like giving Rean a beating. However, he quickly calmed down and made his way into the registration office.

As for Rean, he continued his explanation. "As for the event earlier, senior Glimmel- Ah, that's the man who took care of our problem. Anyway, he said that the Unidentified Werdlem Stone news was a bug in the system... Perhaps some ants entered that equipment we used earlier."

"Hahaha!" The young man couldn't help but laugh out loud, and so did the others around. "You got it wrong. He didn't mean there was really a bug inside. Anyway, if an inquisitor said that, then it must be the truth. Sorry for bothering you, friend. Oh, right. I'm Suzumaki. If you need some help later, look for me. I can make your life here in the Gondel Clan a lot easier... for the right price." He then winked at Rean and turned around to leave.

Rean smiled as well and quickly entered the registration office with Roan. Roan had already finished his registration, and this time, it worked without issues.