The two clones sensed the herbs growing in the area, communicating using their shared thoughts.
'Thankfully, we didn't kill it.'
'Indeed, that would have collapsed this entire place. There is some kind of synergy between it and the environment.'
The two clones broke out in cold sweat, thanking their developed intelligence since they acted cautiously and didn't just do whatever they pleased because they were the stronger party. In the end, it proved that they were right.
The Godly Energy vein in the area was something that was newly forming. It spanned thousands of years in its growth already. Then again, talking based on the sheer scale of the God Realm's duration of existence, it was quite new.
This Godly Energy vein had been growing through the mountain range, enriching it while also bringing forth vitality into the surroundings. Even the tinge of Godly Energy in the area was thanks to this vein.
Unfortunately, it was unstable, lacking any means to release the Godly Energy into the air. After all, in most places on the God Realm, there existed natural habitats that made use of the Godly Energy veins to circulate Godly Energy into the surroundings like the Windless Lake.
Such habitats absorbed the Godly Energy in the veins, converted it into suitable forms in the habitat, and caused a cycle of supply and demand. This way, more and more Godly Energy was drawn from the Godly Energy veins in a systematic form, creating a holistic cycle.
On top of that, this cycle further boosted the Godly Energy vein to grow and mature. It was just how they operated. After all, they were brittle but powerful nodes of Godly Energy that acted as the land's life force.
Currently, there didn't exist any habitat for the Godly Energy to be consumed or circulated, causing the Godly Energy in the Godly Energy veins to be accumulated without any sign of growth.
This was where the herbs and the earthworm-type demon beast came into the picture. By rooting themselves on the Godly Energy veins, the herbs grew into precious herbs that consuming them would elevate one's cultivation to a certain extent.
These herbs were then consumed by the earthworm-type demon beast. After consuming the herbs, it roamed around in the mountain range, drilling new paths from the dome with the herbs. And in this way, it expended Godly Energy.
Moreover, this expended Godly Energy settled on the tunnels, causing the rocks to drink the Godly Energy and become materials allowing its flow. In this way, new channels were created to circulate Godly Energy throughout the mountain range.
As the Godly Energy circulated through the range in this manner, it drew upon more and more Godly Energy from the Godly Energy vein, causing it to progress and branch out in new directions, elevating the condition of the place as a whole.
They had formed a delicate balance. If the two clones had killed the earthworm-type demon beast, then it would have simply collapsed the structure in the place, even causing the Godly Energy vein to explode once it accumulated too much energy.
Since just eating the herbs or drawing forth the energy from the Godly Energy vein wasn't a solution, the two clones didn't lay down their Land Incarnation in the place, unwilling to disturb nature's delicate work at play.
One of them played with the demon beast, distracting it, while the other used the chance to sneak out and traverse through the tunnel spanning on the other side of the dome with the herbs.
It was a narrow tunnel, only wide enough for the earthworm-type demon beast to move through had it been younger. It seemed it had dug this many years ago when its body was a lot smaller. At present, its massive body wouldn't fit into it.
Thankfully for the clone, its body was a lot smaller and could easily fit through the gap, proceeding to slither through the tunnel. The tunnel was indeed pretty long, spanning tens of kilometers. After traveling for an entire day, the clone could finally sense some mellow light in the dark tunnel.
Surprisingly, it didn't hurry. Rather, it slowed down as it cautiously slithered forth, soon reaching the end of the tunnel as it peeked out. Within an instant, it retracted itself in fear, trembling within the tunnel.
'What the hell is that?'
The clone trembled without stop as if it had gone into fits. As what he saw swimming beyond on the other side was a massive demon beast or something that was probably a demon beast. Though, unlike normal demon beasts, its entire body was composed of shadows.
On top of that, the shadows seemed to be like a fluid, dripping past its wings as it moved up and down. Upon a closer look, there were hundreds of individual shadows in the wings of the massive shadow. Moreover, they seemed to be sentient, at least based on their reactions as they struggled and squirmed.
Though, upon a second glance, they seemed to be in a permanent state of suffering. And for some reason, the feeling of dread filled up the clone the moment it gazed at the massive shadow demon beast.
At present, the massive shadow beast was just laying flat, partially submerged into a misty bottom that also seemed to be condensed by shadows. As far as the clone could see, there was only a vast stretch of shadows.
There were also some floating islands in the midst, housing tiny hills upon each. There seemed to be some native races living on some of them, ones that were large enough to resemble a mini continent. Krune was surprised to see them living in the same place as those shadow demon beasts.
Unexpectedly, all the residents there were weak, barely at the God Foundation Realm. Their numbers were few as well, only numbering in the thousands. The clone could spot at least ten such floating islands in its range of vision.
'I need to check them out,' the clone thought, immediately acting based on the thought. After all, it was just a fragment of Little Krune. Even with its death, nothing would happen. Moreover, everything it witnessed would be relayed to all the other fragments and Krune in real-time. So, there was zero concern about being unable to transmit the discovered information.
Having been unable to find any resources in the land that had been emptied by the Zamuria Empire and being unable to find any paths of exit to the continent, all the other clones flew towards the mountain range. They intended to approach the same spot and see if they could obtain anything from the floating islands.
The clone looked at the shadow beast, gazing at it for a long time as its image registered in its mind. Now, it was able to transform into it, albeit only appearance-wise. Its functionality couldn't be imitated. But thankfully, for Krune, his Spiritual Incarnation was comprised of all the laws in the God Realm.
So, albeit difficult, the transformations were somewhat able to execute the same actions as the original. Though, to improve upon such actions, they had to comprehend the respective laws at play to a deeper extent.
Slowly but surely, the earthworm-type demon beast form of the clone morphed as its body turned into a fluid, resembling shadows as it grew a pair of wings, flipping them once to splash forth some droplets of shadow on the tunnel floor.
The shadows instantly vaporized as if they didn't belong on the ground. Moreover, the shadow beast's form was rapidly growing weaker in strength. It seemed it couldn't exist anywhere beyond its shadow habitat.
The clone flapped its wings and took a dive of faith, exiting the tunnel as it made a beeline into the sea of shadows. But, before it could touch the sea of shadows, it began to recover. Moreover, it felt a sense of threat from inside, swiftly steering clear from it as it began to fly up.
Soon, it reached the first floating island, one that was barely a kilometer in diameter. Upon landing on the island, the clone made a sweep using its Mental Energy Scan, unwilling to use any Godly Energy in fear the massive shadow beast would be woken up.
Of course, it could still feel a great number of gazes on it, directed from the wings of the massive shadow beast. The shadows on it were squirming all over its wings, at times trying to escape it and head towards the clone. Sadly, something seemed to have kept them bound to the wings, preventing them from roaming free.
The entire place gave it the chills. Unwilling to waste any time, the clone finished inspecting the island. There was barely any Godly Energy in it. Moreover, the minerals were too widespread. There were barely any mineral deposits that it could mine.
It then flew forward, flying for a long time before it reached a massive island, one that was at least 10 kilometers in radius. The native population there seemed to be humanoid, but they weren't humans.
They seemed to be a mixture between humans and the shadows as they were draped by tatters of the shadow that acted as their dress. Moreover, parts of their body were solely made of shadow and varied from person to person.
For some, it was their teeth. For some, it was one or more of their limbs. For some, it was one of their eyes or ears. But there were also cases where their entire heads were made from the shadows. All in all, they seemed to be a weird humanoid race that had adapted to the region.
As the clone flew over it, the indigenous race immediately prostrated on the ground, hailing praises in their language. As to what they were saying, the clone was unable to understand. But judging by their actions, it could sense they were hailing praises.
It then landed on the island, making a sweep using its Mental Energy Scan to find traces of Godly Energy settled in some parts of the island. From what it could see, it didn't seem to have a definite source. Rather, it seemed to be the areas of deposit that the island itself had absorbed over the years.
It wasn't a great amount. Rather, Krune could completely use it up within a month's worth of cultivation. Sighing, the clone left the island, unaware of what transpired after its departure.
The indigenous people ripped out the shadows, forming their bodies as they combined them together, molding it like clay as they finished creating a figure resembling the clone. Then, they placed it on a pedestal and began to pray towards it.
And at the same time, something budded in the wings of the clone.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel