15 The Lost Little Boy

The towering trees blocked the light from entering their domain, standing tall like the guardians of the forest. A dark light dashed passed each tree, causing the leaves to shake back and forth. The figure that rushed past the trees slowly revealed his countenance under the gaps that the sun rays were able to sneak through. Hair as black as the night sky, but with a hint of stone like grey, swayed under the pressure of the wind that pushed against his face while he ran. Obsidian-like eyes that carried a hint of red menacingly gazed forward, making sure that all obstacles were evaded.

Arnin was a good distance away from the village. After his power upgraded, his speed was also increased exponentially. Within a few seconds, he was able to cover more than a few hundred meters. The map that Arnin was using had an easy route to get to the academy, however, it would force him to take a much longer time to get there. He had to circle around many dangerous areas that had essence beasts. Although the beasts were of the lowest level, even that was equivalent to a Essence Manifest - Earth realm cultivator. Arnin, who wanted to get to the academy as soon as possible, could care less about the obstacles. He decided to go straight through the dangerous areas, rather than wasting time with circling them. Plus, Arnin really wanted to see what the essence beasts looked like. Would they similar to the animal beasts that he had seen during his rise to become a demon lord? Would they be completely different? Arnin also wanted to gauge where he stood in terms of strength. He couldn't call Viret's death as a proper test because he used his original power, albeit a small amount, it still was his original power.

Arnin continued to travel through the dense forest. The map showed that he was approaching the first dangerous area and that he should take a right, however, Arnin kept running forward. A few minutes later, he finally approached a forest that seemed a lot brighter than the one he came from. Arnin took a quick stop to inspect his surroundings. He wasn't dumb enough to rush into the forest without making any plans. Arnin sat down cross-legged and began to adapt to the new environment by absorbing the essence. Surprisingly, his orb was able to absorb the essence at a much quicker rate and convert that essence into useful energy. Arnin continued his cultivation for ten minutes before getting up and continuing his journey. This time, he took his time to pass through the forest since it was dangerous grounds. The first thing Arnin decided to do was climb to the top of the trees and travel from a good height. If he could see what was approaching him from a distance,he would then be able to properly prepare.

Arnin leaped up onto the closest tree and began to jump from branch to branch. With his strengthened vision, not only was he able to see better in the darkness, he was also able to see longer distances. While jumping, Arnin gathered that the deeper he went, the thicker the essence got.

'Is there perhaps a strong essence beast here?' Arnin could thought that a very strong beast was in the forest, which was the reason the essence was so thick. In the world of Afloria, cultivation was a norm, however, not everybody cultivated the same way. Humanoid creatures had orbs inside their bodies that converted worldly essence into bodily essence. This essence was however very nutritious for essence beasts. Unlike humanoid cultivators, essence beasts did not absorb worldly essence, they had to devour different creatures and plants to get their energy. Although it seemed to be a very tedious way to cultivate, it was far quicker than the method used by humanoid creatures. Plants and animals were everywhere, so they were able to get their essence quicker. The reason that worldly essence gathered around strong beasts was still unknown to common folk.

Arnin continued to move forward, but this time he moved a lot slower. He needed to make sure that the beast would not attack him if it was really there. Arnin decided to get back onto the ground because the branches would not provide him with much movement and dodging capabilities. Arnin slowly moved deeper into the forest. He had yet to meet any essence beasts along his path which further provided evidence that a strong beast was present. The large beast would hunt down the smaller ones for its own cultivation, so why would there be any left? The beasts only moved on animal instinct so they did not care about extinction or endangerment of species. They only cared about whether they would get food or not.

*Clash, Clink*

Just as Arnin was silently creeping forward, he heard some noises. It sounded similar to a blacksmith's swordsmithing. It was very similar, but not as high pitched. Arnin masked his presence by stopping his absorption of the essence and sealing any pores that would release energy waves. He crawled towards the sound and hid in a bush that was very close to the sound. Moving aside the snaring leaves, Arnin saw a group of people attacking a large beast. There were three humans, all about the age of twenty to thirty. In front of the tiger-like beast, a tan-skinned man with a titanic body and stubble beard clashed head-on. His silver ax collided with the single beige horn on the beast. There was a large scar in the brawn man's left cheek, and many fresh cuts and bites were all over his body. He looked to be on his last stand, however, his aura didn't seem to fade away. The man's two partners were on the ground. One had a deep cut on his right leg, while the other treated him. The injured person had a short sword lying beside him, while his pale face was in great pain. His long yellow hair was on his side, while his green eyes tightly scrunched up. The last person was a woman with long, silver hair. Sweat was pouring down her pretty, colorless face. Her amber eyes intently looked at the swordsman's leg, while she applied some sort of cream. The injured man wrinkled his eyebrows when she applied the cream; his teeth gritted as he looked up and tried to fight against the pain.

Arnin watched all of this happen with some amusement. He found it funny to see such a cliche type scene. A big man holding off the beast, while the maiden heals the injured man. He already guessed how this would go down, so he decided to continue watching the show.

"Cher, you need to take Von out of here. I will hold off the beast while you guys escape!" The brawny man screamed at his comrades before blocking another one of the tiger beasts blows.

"Jelen, I am already injured, so you take Cher and run. I won't be able to get far so let me hold this beast back. Please!" Von, who was the injured man, looked at the brawny man, Jelen, with determination. Cher was on the verge of tears when she heard the conversation between the two men.

Arnin, who was hiding in the bushes felt no sympathy for the three, rather he was finding it hard to hold his own laughter in. Such a scene was always told about in tales of heroes or other stories that Arnin found to be totally stupid. Arnin's face was completely red from holding his laughter in. Arnin took a deep breath, but still couldn't hide the smile on his face. He was debating on whether he should save the people or just fish in troubled waters. Arnin silently inspected each of the people and tried to see what their respective strengths were. The brawny man was at Essence Manifest - Sky, while the injured person was only a small realm lower; Essence Manifest - Earth. The woman, on the other hand, was the weakest, Orb Birth - Heaven. In Arnin's mind, this was the classic scene where the men try to protect the woman and sacrifice their own lives for it. The woman would then escape with the injured man and fall in love and then live happily ever after. Arnin hated these types of stories the most because he found that sacrificing oneself was a dumb idea.

Arnin had a malicious scheme planned inside his head, where he would use one of them to get out of the forest in the quickest manner. He would use one of the people to lead him out of the dangerous forest and then lead him to the academy. He was only going off the map, but the map was not to scale and maybe there might have been things that the village elder missed. Because of this, he needed a guide to get to the academy. Arnin decided that saving the girl was the best idea. The brawny man was too powerful andArnin wouldn't be able to get him to do anything for him, so he was out of the picture. The injured man would become a nuisance because of his leg, plus he was also a little strong. The girl was the weakest in strength and would be the easiest to control. With this planned out, Arnin continued to watch the show in front of him.

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"Cher, runaway! Jelen and I will hold the beast back. No matter what happens, do not turn around. We will meet you on the outside of the forest." Cher shook her head, but Von grabbed her hand and smiled at her. "Cher, we will meet you outside the forest, so please, for now just run." She shed a small amount of tears before getting up and rushing away from the scene. Arnin, who saw all of this happen, smiled brightly. He could now get rid of the two nuisances.

The beast that the brawny man was fighting, was around the same strength as him. Since the two were evenly matched, only a break in that power equilibrium could cause the death of either one. The break could be a direct influence or messing with one of the people's emotions. Von was extremely tired and pale, the blood coming out of his leg had already created a pool. This was his weakest moment, so Arnin knew he could kill him if he caught the guy by surprise. Arnin waited ten minutes before beginning his plan of action.

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"Uwahhhhh, where's my mom?! Mommy? Where are you?" Arnin walked out the bush with tears in his eyes. He looked pitiful, and with his small frame, he also looked very innocent. "Ahhhhh! A monster! Mommy where are you?" Arnin got on his knees and covered his ears. His tears increased and fell down like a waterfall.

"Sh*t! What the hell is a kid doing here? Von, quick, take the kid to a safe place! I will hold this beast back! Make sure you come back right away!" Jelen quickly shouted out.

Von was surprised to see a kid crying in the middle of the forest so he got up slowly and limped as quickly as he could towards Arnin. "Little boy, what are you doing here? How did you get into this forest?" Von picked Arnin up and started to question him while he walked away from the scene as quickly as he could.

"I don't know! I was collecting plants with mom, but then I got lost! I want my mom!" Arnin continued to act as the lost little boy, which greatly affected the heroic Von.

"It's ok, I will find you a safe place to hide. After I finish that bad monster, I will take you to yo-" Just as Von was about to finish comforting the 'lost' Arnin, a hand pierced through his body. Von looked down at Arnin with astonishment. His chest had a large hole and Arnin's hand was piercing him.

"L-litt-le b-boy, wh-why d-did *Cough Cough*" Von coughed out blood and fell to the ground. His body was trembling as he looked at Arnin with confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did that hurt? Here let me ease your pain." Arnin wickedly smiled at Von before piercing through his chest one more time, but this time he aimed towards the heart. Arnin got up and looked at the angered Jelen. Jelen completely forgot about the beast and murderously looked at Arnin.

"You demon! How could you kill him?! AHHH! I'm going to grind you into dust!" Jelen turned away from the beast and rushed towards him. Arnin looked at Jelen with scorn and let out a yawn.

"Was that your friend? Haha, he was so dumb. I love ridding the world of such ignorant people. You're welcome." Arnin brightly smiled towards Jelen like a hero that had just saved the day from a catastrophe.