Death... and me

Old Worm nodded, already expecting that question.

"I won't be a hypocrite. We took over your planet, so you have as much reason to hate the humans who live on the surface now. If I were in your race's shoes, I would probably feel the same. That's one of the reasons why I haven't wiped out your Lakure Race members yet."

Of course, the other reason was that he knew Roan's group was using the time difference in this formation to cultivate. As mentioned before, even he can't do such a thing as a time-accelerating formation. The Lakure Race definitely couldn't either. It was all thanks to the natural formation created by the world itself that it even existed here.

"That being said, I have a proposal for you. However, that will depend on how well you think your control over your race is."

No one knew that Old Worm and Laro talked with each other, nor did they know that Laro and Jakiro had ever met each other. Later that day, the same strikes began to come from inside the chamber where Laro was sealed. As for Old Worm, he was nowhere to be seen. However, there was something different this time. The inscriptions that kept Laro sealed in that chamber had dimmed quite a lot. It was as if several years had passed in a blink of an eye. Laro's job had just become several times easier.

Back where Rean's group was staying, they had finally finished absorbing all the extra energy provided through Kentucky and the red crystal. 

"Phew... It was much better this time. I believe we saved at least half a month of cultivation during this last week."

Roan nodded.

"Indeed. We need to take this chance where we can improve Calina's strength drastically while improving our own cultivation. Our Spiritual Pools are much bigger than other cultivators, after all. If we cultivate normally, even Malaka would be faster in making breakthroughs than us."

Rean agreed with him.

"At least this way, we are on the same terms. Of course, the bigger Spiritual Pool is one of the main reasons we can jump so many stages to fight, so it's a good thing."

The two then discussed the topic for a while longer before Rean thought about something else.

"What about buying a few upgrades in the Soul Gem System?"

Sister Orb's interest was immediately piqued.

[I thought you would never ask again. Your Destiny Points have been accumulating for a long time already, you know?]

Roan nodded.

"Obviously. Gathering more Destiny Points is better since we can upgrade more than a single thing at once. That's why we waited all this time before using it. However, the time flow inside this place is at least ten times faster. That means the events outside are happening very slowly for us. There won't be much of a difference even if we wait another ten years inside this place."

[That's good, then. Come inside.]

Rean and Roan then disappeared from their own cave rooms and appeared in the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. There, they immediately noticed that Sister Orb, Calina, and Malaka were taking care of Sana. 

Malaka noticed that Rean and Roan had arrived there, so she immediately went to greet them.

"Rean, Roan, did you come to see Sana as well?"

Roan narrowed his eyes in response.

"Shouldn't you two be cultivating and pondering about the things we discussed?"

Calina sighed after hearing that.

"We aren't slacking, okay? We just wanted to see how Sana was doing, that's all."

The twins allowed Sister Orb to teleport Calina and Malaka inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm as long as she was sure no one would find out they disappeared. Since Rean had created several anti-Spiritual Sense formations in their cave, that made things very easy for Sister Orb and the two girls. Of course, such a thing was only possible if Rean and Roan were close by, no more than ten or so meters of distance.

Rean shrugged his shoulders after hearing that.

"This is just perfect. Just send Malaka and Calina out with Sana while we take care of our things."

[Alright. Calina, Malaka, I'll send you three out. Be sure to not let Sana fall after you appear in your room.]

Calina and Malaka didn't know what Rean and Roan needed to do, but they didn't ask either. Soon after, Sister Orb controlled the Dimensional Realm's power to send them out with the baby.

[It's done.]

Rean and Roan nodded before touching the Soul Gem Orb. After that, they sent their Spiritual Energy and Sense inside as always. Following that, they accessed the reward list.

[Dragon Bones - 5000 Destiny Points] (New)

[Spiritual Energy Absorption Upgrade Level 3 - 10000 Destiny Points] (15%)

[Soul Gem Dimensional Realm Upgrade Level 3 - 8000 Destiny Points] (New) 

[Yin Yang Bathhouse - Reward from Destiny Strugglers Title]

[Soul Connection Range Upgrade level 3 – 20000 Destiny Points] (10000km) (New)

[Soul Gem Blacksmith Workshop Upgrade Level 2 - 1000 Destiny Points] (New)

[Soul Gem Alchemy Workshop Upgrade Level 3- 3000 Destiny Points] (New)

[Soul Gem Electrical Formations Repository Upgrade Level 3 - 3000 Destiny Points] (New)

Seeing the rewards available, the twins immediately asked Sister Orb.

"How many Destiny Points do we have now?"

[Let me calculate.]

The Soul Gem Orb shone with Light and Dark Light for a moment before Sister Orb answered.

[It has been over three years since you last used Destiny Points. The Electrical Communication System is still the thing that gives you the majority of the points you have. However, I can already feel that it's beginning to stagnate. It seems like the cap of points available for it is getting close.]

[In any case, you already made another 11781 points since last time. That's mainly due to the acceleration of the communication system's expansion, covering many more cities now. This is already considering any new save point you deployed in the meantime.]

Rean couldn't help but narrow his eyes. That was a lot less than he had expected. After all, the communication system had a lot more time to expand than before. 

Sister Orb could tell that Rean was thinking, so she reminded him.

[Don't forget that you two obtained a pretty good bonus from the war back then. This number doesn't have anything to do with that, so it is pretty much within expectations. You can't possibly believe you would get Destiny Points from it forever, right?]

Rean sighed before nodding.

"Alright, then."

Roan looked at the list as he pondered about what to get now.

"If we get Spiritual Energy Absorption Level 3, most of our points will be gone. However, it will be a permanent upgrade."

Rean nodded.

"Indeed. However, we can also take Dragon Bones. It is much cheaper and can also increase our strength by quite a good amount. It's just that it won't increase the speed of our cultivation in the end."

[Both options are good. The difference is that you would get an instant power upgrade or a long-term one. Of course, the long-term one, Spiritual Absorption Upgrade, will help you forever. At some point, it will surpass what you will get from the Dragon Bones. However, this is something that would happen far in the future. However, it's not like your Dragon Bones will disappear. They will still be part of your body and strength in the future as well.]

Rean couldn't help but say.

"I would select Dragon Bones. It's not like we won't get more Destiny Points in the future. Besides, we can use the rest of the points to upgrade something else. Or we can simply keep it for when we complete 10000 again."

Roan nodded in the end. The Spiritual Energy Absorption would take too long to compensate for what the Dragon Bones could do to them right now. With that decided, the two immediately made their purchases.

[Dragon Bones - 5000 Destiny Points]

[Host's Destiny Points - 11781]

[Confirm the Purchase?]

"Yes!"

As soon as they said that, the twins laid down on the ground to wait for the torture. After all, any body part upgrade would always appear out of nowhere, followed by a huge pain that would last very long. However... nothing happened.

"Errrr... Did it fail?"

[No. It just hasn't started yet.]

Rean and Roan became puzzled.

"Why?"

[Dragon Bones are hard to materialize, so the System is gathering energy for it. Oh, it seems the accumulation of energy has finished.]

Suddenly, the twins' bodies began to float out of nowhere, much to their surprise. Soon after, their limbs and legs were stretched to the point that it felt like they were being pulled out by force. Following that, the Soul Gem Orb floated in between the two before it started to release powerful energy into the twins' bodies.

*Aaargh!*

Sister Orb looked at that and couldn't help but comment.

[Oh! You two look just like Jesus. Wait!]

Suddenly, two crowns made out of thorns appeared on the twins' heads. Well, they weren't real ones, just projections that Sister Orb created with the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm's help.

[That's not quite right. You two don't have long hair. You are also lacking beards.]

Soon, the projection changed as Rean and Roan suddenly grew beards and long hair. Obviously, the colors were black and white. Of course, none of this was real either.

[That's more like it. I'll record it to show Calina and Malaka later. No, wait! Shit! They don't know who Jesus is. How boring...]

[Well, it should still be fun to keep it.]

The twins' expressions contorted between anger and pain. It was hard to say which feeling was stronger at the moment. They mentally swore that one day, they would definitely shatter that damned orb.