Death... and me
chapter-2026

Luman used his hands to create a few seals in the air, which quickly began to take the shape of a set of small formations. Rean looked at that and couldn't help but be surprised by the simplicity of the formations. It's just that when they stacked one above the other, they formed something a lot more complex. Nonetheless, the way these small formations were developed made it quite a simple task for anyone to use them, even if they had little to no knowledge about formations.

However, Rean quickly found a problem in that formation. "Wait, this thing obviously is in need of some kind of specific core other than Divine Energy."

Luman smiled in response before taking out a small piece of white and brown colored wood from his pocket Dimensional Realm. "This is called bright underworld wood. It is one of the almost nonexistent Light Element items that can be found in the Underworld. It's not rare, though. It came from the Bright Underworld Tree Forests located in quite a few places in this Realm. Due to the fact that Dark Element concentration is so high in the Underworld, the little Light Element in the environment is forced into a few different pockets in this Realm. This is how it gave birth to the trees there."

Roan looked at that for a moment. "It also has Dark Element within it. Quite impressive."

Luman nodded. "Indeed. This peculiarity makes it the perfect core for the Dark Tide Barrier Formation. Not only does its Light Element properties make it a good material to counteract the Dark Tide, but it also has Dark Element inside, which prevents the Decaying Energy in the environment from affecting it."

Rean was quite interested in that item. It wasn't every day you could find a material that had two elements inside, especially two elements that usually counteract each other. "Are you going to give this for free, though?"

Luman was happy that Rean mentioned that. "It's good that you understand. The formation is obviously extremely simple to build. However, even though this Bright Underworld Tree isn't a rare item in the Underworld Realm, it is still rare in this Swamp of no Return. That's because almost no one knew that it could be used for the Dark Tide. Let's not forget that once you enter the swamp, you can't leave. So how could anyone inform those outside that this thing is so useful? Just so that you know, there is no way to contact the outside world. Even the highest grade Thoughts Transmission Talismans can't send or receive messages here."

That immediately showed just how rare that specific item was in this place. They heard from Luman about the difficulty he had in dealing with the environment when he arrived in this place, which shows that it took quite some time until he acquired that Bright Underworld Tree.

"That said, there is one thing I want you to do for me now that you are here. Rean has Light Element Affinity, which is something I never thought I would find in this place. Kentucky is obviously a Minokawa, so he can also use Light Element. Take a look at this Bright Wood Piece I'm showing. Do you feel like it is lacking something?"

Rean and Kentucky looked at each other and then used their Divine Senses to check that piece of wood. After a few moments, they finally noticed what was wrong with it. "The concentration of Light Element that this Bright Underworld Wood is releasing isn't even a tenth of the Dark Element part."

Luman nodded. "Correct. After so many years, I was obviously successful in gathering a few pieces of this wood through the Devils that entered this place now and then. I used a few of them to build the Dark Tider Formation around this settlement too. However, after this long, the Light Element inside them began to fail. It's probably because they had been removed from the Bright Underworld Tree Forests for too long. I want you two to try and inject your Light Element inside to see if it can restore its Light Element Properties."

Rean narrowed his eyes for a moment. "That's gonna be difficult. We can definitely give it a try, but the wood was withered by the high accumulation of Decaying Energy in the Dark Element of this Swamp. I don't know if it can recover just because it got a source of Light Element. Besides, I believe Kentucky will agree with me when I say that the Light Element coming out of the wood has something special to it."

Kentucky immediately agreed with Rean. "I can feel that too. It is not just Light Element. Rean, am I crazy, or is there a hint of Wood Element fused with the Light Element?"

Rean smiled after hearing that. "So you found that too, uh? Indeed, I can also feel that there is wood element fused with the Light Element instead of a standalone part of the wood. Even if we do infuse our Light Element inside the wood, I find it very unlikely that it will recover the wood element part of the fused elements."

Luman looked in surprise at the piece of Bright Underworld Wood in his hand. He truly couldn't feel the presence of Wood Element in the Light Element at all. "Was there such a thing? Sigh... Anyway, at least give it a try. If you succeed, I will give you a piece of Bright Underworld Wood. Otherwise, I won't be able to help you since each piece is extremely important for the settlement."

Kentucky looked at Rean since he knew that Rean's Light Element was the highest quality it could possibly be. If it could work, it had to be with Rean's Light Element. Naturally, Rean thought the same thing. However, he had a better idea as a smile appeared on his face. "How about growing a new Bright Underworld Tree instead? That should be a lot more useful."