"Death element is a duality element along with Life. Without life, death wouldn''t be born, and without death, life wouldn''t get its meaning."


    "Death can give death and Life and can give life, but Death can also give life, and life can also grant death."


    "They are opposite but share a connection. Hence, it''s a Duality element with Life."


    "That''s why you can control dead things as if they are alive but not living. You can reverse death but can''t oppose life, just as how life can''t oppose death. Hence, those who live through death are called Undead."


    "I see…" Erix nodded thoughtfully. "I got an undead energy source from my previous Zombie Lord ss. Is it a byproduct of Death energy?"


    "Yep. It''s a sub-energy of Death, exclusively for the Undead department. sses are a good thing since they give you another reserve of certain energy rted to it and more skills."


    Erix nodded with a grin, "I can''t wait to get my new ss."


    "I would give some information on sses, but that will be forter."


    Lilith crossed her arms, "For now, let''s focus on Death Element."


    Erix nodded while Lilith continued with her lecture.


    "Although Death and Life are duality elements, they still have their own aspects thatpletely remain dominant over each other," Lilith smiled.


    "Death Stream''s effects on general living things are straightforward: it will erase life from it. But to have its effect on meta-living things and erase any form of life from them, you need to have sufficient understanding of Death element''s aspects."


    "Meta-living? Form of life?"


    Lilith smiled and twirled her finger as a rock floated from the ground and arrived on her palm.


    "Does this rock have life?"


    Erix wryly smiled. He didn''t know how to answer. Was it alive? Or maybe it was dead?


    "Maybe the rock is alive, and that''s why it has this form?" Erix said after thinking for a second. "If you use Death Stream on it, and it crumbles or something, then I guess the rock has life."


    "Let''s see," Lilith smiled. A tiny ck mote appeared above the rock and touched it.


    "This death stream''s mote was produced from 1 point of mana."


    In the next second, the tiny rock turned ck and turned into tiny particles before vanishing.


    "So it has life?" Erix raised his eyebrows, but then a glint shed through his eyes. "Wait…"


    "I didn''t sense any death power from the rock…" Erix mumbled. "If it had life, then killing it should produce death power like the monsters I killed."


    "Or is it that the death power it produced was weak and minuscule such that I couldn''t sense it?"


    Lilith didn''t answer and twirled her finger once as a small rock floated before Erix.


    "Use death stream worth 100 mana on it," Lilith yfully smiled.


    "Why 100?" Erix was confused. "It''s just a rock, so wouldn''t 1-mana death mote work?"


    "No, do it with a death mote of 100 mana," Lilith crossed her arms with a grin. "You''ll get a surprise."


    Erix curiously put the rock on his palm and produced a tiny death mote condensed from the death stream worth 100 mana points.


    That death mote touched the rock, and Erix expected to see it turn into particles and vanish.


    However, the death mote simply stuck to it, not doing anything.


    Erix''s shocked eyes turned to Lilith, "What is going on? I know my magic power is way weaker than yours, so my mana wouldn''t convert into a death stream as powerful as yours, but…"


    Erix turned back to the tiny rock.


    "It was worth 100 mana points! How…did it not affect the rock at all?"


    Lilith chuckled and said, "This is your lesson. If you can ''Kill'' that rock with your death stream, then your Death Affinity will reach level 2."


    "This is something you have to understand yourself, so y with the Death element in your origin region and try to gain insight."


    "You can also experiment with various things with Death element to understand, but get the most important thing right," Lilith''s expression turned serious before she continued, "Your understanding of an element directly affects its powers. If you can understand its various core aspects, then you can make progress towards the next realm."


    "And," Lilith cheekily smiled, "I''ve told you enough things about Death element for you to make the breakthrough, so it''s up to you."


    "Affinities are the powers like Concepts that rely purely on yourprehension. If you get them right, you may break through quickly in quick sessions. If you fail, then you might stay stuck in a realm for years."


    Erix was fired up!


    "Alright, I''ll get to it right now," Erix grinned and quickly went to his Serene Spot and started training after entering deep focus.


    …


    ''The rock didn''t die by my death mote because Icked understanding of Death.''


    ''Understanding of Death…''


    Erix produced Death Stream, which was essentially a stream of cartoony ck energy.


    When he used a bit of it on a handful patch of grass, the grass quickly withered and died, but his source didn''t even bother to get the death power the grass produced because it was too much below its threshold.


    ''The grass died, but the rock didn''t.''


    ''Rock is already dead, but then Lilith managed to kill it…''


    ''Lilith mentioned about Meta-living things, so I guess rocks fall under that category.''


    Erix sat back on the Serene Spot and closed his eyes that contained resolve and a direction.


    ''I have to forget about Life in a normal way and direct my influence to pure death.''


    After a second, Erix fully enveloped himself in a ck sphere that was made of Death Stream.


    ''Remember all the encounters you had until now….''


    ''The properties of that Undead energy…Its effects weren''t in my influence but given to it by the ss core, so it will help me if I recall and understand it.''


    Time slowly passed as Erix let himself fall into the deep focus of understanding the realm of death.


    Meanwhile, Lilith woke up others and told them to eat to recover, especially Rein and Klelia.


    Thedies sat at the table and started eating.


    "You two," Lilith looked at Rein and Klelia, "You better eat to full and recover in time so that Erix can suck you dry again tomorrow."


    "Mhmm," Kelia nodded with a slightly red face while Rein just grunted in response and started eating.


    "Lilith, It''s time that I go and kill something with my de," Rin said with a determined expression. "I got my Lightning affinity to level 3. The wind is level 1, but It might take a bit more time to get it to level 2, so I want to get my de concept to level 2."


    "Concepts are a journey of myriad paths, and level 2 concept is the biggest hurdle because you have to decide the higher meaning of your Concept," Lilith said after taking a bite from a veggie sandwich.


    "If you think you can give a higher meaning to your de, then you can act ording to it," Lilith smiled. "So, I''ll be your sparring partner. I''ll use my umbre and make my stats the same as yours."


    Rin''s eyes shone. "That''s perfect!"


    "But…" Rin chuckled before she continued, "If we are going to fight purely physically, then you might need higher stats since I have de concept, and it automatically makes my de attacks 50% stronger."


    "That''s not necessary, Rin," Lily said as she shook her head.


    "Did I tell you that I also have two concepts, and one of them is Prate at level 2?" Lilith grinned.


    "Prate?" Rin raised her eyebrows. "That Gentle Death old man had Pierce concept…what is the difference between two?"


    "Well, both have differences physically, magically, and figuratively," Lilith said after taking a meat dumpling into her mouth.


    "Pierce is when something pointy makes a hole into something if we speak about physical Piercing," Lilith said. "Figuratively speaking, it''s like ''your words pierced my heart.''"


    Everyone nodded as they listened.


    "But Prate is broader," Lilith smiled. "Pration doesn''t mean a precise or localized action of creating a hole. Pration means going inside."


    "Aaaaa!" Rein''s eyes turned wide. "Now I understand how my stomach suddenly exploded from inside!"


    "Your skill was influenced by the Prate concept, so it prated inside me before exploding."


    "Yep," Lilith chuckled and nodded. "Pierce is making an opening, and Pration is simply going inside. It can be physically or magically. Since I prated my skill inside you because your spirit force was too weak to block it, I easily injured it. Normally, I don''t use Prate like this, but you were too easy of a Royal order."


    "..." Rein grit her teeth, but then started eating with her head down.


    On the other hand Rin and Kelia nodded in understanding.


    "It sounds like Pration is more powerful than Pierce," Klelia said after she took a sip from the juice ss.


    Lilith shook her head, "Concepts are wholly dependent on individuals, especially after reaching the 2nd realm of any Concept."


    "Let''s eat quickly and spar," Rin grinned and started focusing on eating.