"What the hell? How did a child suddenly appear here?!"
Before him was a child, maybe seven or eight years old, running towards his direction, with a smile on her face. She doesn't seem to have any concerns about the environment or the dangers.
Asher couldn't believe his eyes, and he decided to further confirm this. His pure black iris completely changed into silver, unlike the first time when only a hue of ring formed.
Through new eyes, Asher could see a white color substance in the shape of a human child running towards him, similar to the appearance of the child.
The result of his [Soul Sense] further confused him, 'This isn't an illusion and she's a real human child!'
It was a technique he'd developed a few days prior before he decided to challenge the trial since a lot of his friends and neighbors told him to be careful of illusion and shapeshifting monsters.
But he didn't waste any more time and immediately ran towards her.
Before he could approach her, the girl shouted in a soft childish voice, raising her hand, "Heyyy, did you know what happened here?"
Asher blinked in surprise, but didn't reply.
She pouted and again asked, "Heyyy, did you not hear me? I'm asking what happened here?"
Asher's doubt further intensified, but also realised one thing. Soon, he reached her and stopped.
The child also stopped and questioned, "Why aren't you answering my question? Are you deaf?"
Asher still didn't reply to her and instead asked another question, "You are not a child, are you?"
"Huh?!" It seemed that question triggered the little girl, and her face became red in anger, "What do you mean by child? How come a child will be allowed to participate in the trial? Do you have some screw loose in your head?"
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? CALLING ME A CHILD?!"
Ignoring her yelling, Asher completely lost in thought, 'It seems I misjudged her based on her appearance. If I thought about it, the Alliance won't allow someone underaged to even participate in the awakening ceremony.'
"Come on, what are you daydreaming about? Can you not ignore me?" The little girl raised her voice.
"Nothing, I'm just thinking about something," Asher replied casually, not even taking her seriously. "Also, you don't need to find out what happened here. I'm hundred percent sure, you will die if you continue to make noise and stay here."
With that, Asher continued running away. He obviously didn't want to stay with her any longer.
The most basic survival thing taught in the Alliance school was not to trust any strangers inside the trial.
Also, anyone who attended the Alliance school won't be as carefree as her. With his cautious and trouble free personality, he didn't want to stay with her anymore. Not even a single second.
The girl did not expect Asher to simply leave her alone, she chased him and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Asher ignored and increased his speed.
"Heyyyy, why are you ignoring me again?"
"Like, what the hell?! Can't you just explain in one sentence?" The girl didn't give up and closely chased behind Asher and repeatedly shouted near his ear, constantly nagging him. "Tell me, Tell me, Tell me..."
Unable to control his anger, Asher yelled in frustration, "Can't you just shut your damn mouth!"
"Do you have any common sense in your head? Can't you just understand if someone doesn't talk to you means, they don't wish to talk to you."
The little girl stood there, stunned. Her mouth opened in disbelief, like someone who never been scolded.
Controlling his anger, Asher again increased his speed and ran forward, leaving her behind.
After ten minutes, Asher breathed a sigh of relief, because he saw a black beast again and also didn't see the little devil following him.
No, he wasn't interested in fighting a life and death battle against it. He was in relief because he escaped the territory of the huge behemoth.
In the behemoth's territory, Asher hadn't found a single black beast and he assumed that these beasts would be very territorial.
If his guess was correct, he was somewhat safe and escaped from certain danger.
Then activating the veil of scent, Asher silently passed it without alerting it. Soon, Asher's eyes widened in surprise, because he found a relatively good hiding spot.
In front of him was a huge rock of more than five meters and a hillock was glued together. Between their junction, a small natural gap—enough for a normal human to pass through.
'If I completely eliminate my traces and enter here, those creatures won't be able to find me, unless every other creature here can evolve like that monstrosity.'
Just thinking about this forest filled with eyeless black beasts becoming huge or evolving into behemoths made a chill run down his spine.
'Although, I can't wish for the impossible.'
Deep down, Asher knew that the behemoth should be a Master Rank or above creature that evolved from an eyeless beast.
Then, Asher again activated his veil of scent and completely covered his entire body. He also removed his shoes to avoid leaving any traces for those with eyes too.
Carefully doing all precautions and further verification, Asher entered the small hole.
"It looks good, maybe I should be able to survive here for 30 days if I somehow decrease the efforts of my curse…" Asher smiled bitterly and carefully placed his spear aside to rest a little.
As he was resting, his thoughts began to drift about the little girl he met earlier. Now, he began to regret a little, 'I should have informed her about the behemoth there. If she knew there was a Master Rank Creature, no way in hell she would go there.'
'Should I go and check on her?' Asher shook his head vigorously, 'It's not my mistake, she should've known there was danger ahead just by my escape.'
Finally, thinking about the effects of his curse, Asher regretted his decision, 'Hell with regrets, I won't meet that idiot again, just another regret won't kill me anyways.'
Suddenly, Asher heard a ghastly voice behind him, "Mister..."