The weather was nothing short of perfect—a delicate balance between warm and cold. The crisp, fresh air of the forest invigorated Valerio with each breath, filling him with a subtle sense of refreshment as he continued his search for any sign of human settlement.
If it hadn't been for a tree root that caused him to almost trip Valerio might not have noticed the eerie silence.
It was far too quiet.
Valerio came to a stop and swept a look around. Had he chanced upon an important place or was there another factor at play?
It was quite odd, he could hear birds chirping and other inconsequential sounds ahead of him but he couldn't say the same for behind him.
Valerio vigilantly walked in the opposite direction, wondering if an animal was following him. Alas, no animal appeared, instead two beautiful identical twins dashed into view above him, looking down at Valerio as if they had found an endangered beast.
Valerio couldn't help but blink twice, and twice more afterwards. 'Humans?'
The two twins leapt off the tree, falling towards Valerio.
In reflex, Valerio pushed against the ground and flew through the trees, sprinting as fast as he could for the first time after reaching Tier 7, unfamiliar with his newfound strength, he almost tripped again. Though, he quickly recovered and burst out with as much force as he could muster.
'Damn.'
The wind pushed against him, his hair flowing wildly as he began to weave and dodge the varius obstacles in front of him, almost as if performing an elaborate dance through the forest.
He vaulted over roots, ducked beneath low-hanging branches, and leapt clean over others where he saw a trunk he couldn't evade; he sidestepped without hesitation. His mind churned with imperceptible and subconscious calculations as he moved through the obstacles, somehow conserving his momentum regardless of the hurdles. Valerio's raw agility and speed were remarkable, his figure becoming little more than a blur to the twins.
Sure, they were fast, but not fast enough.
Despite his focus on running, Valerio's curiosity gnawed at him—he had to know if they were chasing him. Just as he prepared to glance over his shoulder, the realisation struck him: he didn't need to turn his head at all.
'Spiritual Sense…should be like this?' Valerio wondered as he tried expanding his Spirit Sense for the first time ever.
Everyone with Spiritual Lu had Spiritual Sense, it was an almost instuntical use of it. It simply required the user to expel their Spiritual Lu into their environment in a spherical shape.
A faint spiritual power radiated outward as Valerio willed his Spiritual Lu to extend around him, forming an invisible bubble of awareness spanning 50 metres in radius.
'Woah.'
That was all Valerio could muster as the sensory information of his surroundings flooded into his brain. It was such an overwhelming sensation that made him feel like an omnipotent god within his spiritual sense, he could feel, smell, see, hear and even taste it all.
The sensation was extraordinary—an almost divine connection to everything within his range. It was as though his senses had for the first time extended beyond his body, however, there was no time to marvel at his newfound perception.
Within his spiritual sense, the twins came into view, weaving determinedly through the forest behind him.
Valerio's mind kicked into overdrive, his thoughts racing as fast as his legs carried him. He kept moving as he brainstormed, darting around the forest as if he were on an obstacle course designed by Mother Nature herself.
'What are they doing here? Could I continue to outrun them? Why are they chasing after me like this?'
The questions ran through his head as though he wasn't perceiving 300,000 cubic meters worth of space at the moment. Though the numbers themselves were high, the reality was that the experimental number was much lower. The reason being that the amount of information Valerio could discern from the air in his spiritual sense compared to the ground and wildlife was… nothing. Furthermore, his spiritual sense couldn't yet expand underground as it had above ground. The ground was much harder to perceive and force spiritual sense into. Regardless, no matter how he pieced the questions together or derived subsidiary questions, there was simply no way for him to answer any of these questions.
'Hold on, are they even hostile?' a weird expression appeared on Valerio's face as he thought about the question. As if to answer his question, he heard a sweet voice from behind him.
"Please stop, we just want to ask a few questions," Ava shouted, her breathing heavy.
Valerio slowed down for a fraction of a second before dismissing the thought, they could be dangerous.
'I am faster than them. I can escape if anything goes wrong.'
He was truly hesitating. This was a great opportunity to gather information and see if they recognised his last name.
Ava's face scrunched up in annoyance, but she settled herself down as she realised Valerio was accelerating out of sight.
"Please stop, we can talk from afar, we really need to ask you a few questions." pleaded Ava as she finally stopped running and placed her hands on her knees.
The sound of heavy breathing filled the forest as the twins looked forward, hoping the mysterious man had heard them and listened.
He had.
Valerio appeared 50 metres away behind a tree, leaping onto a branch and taking a seat, the exhaustion painted on the twins' faces granting him further confidence in his decision to converse.
"Alright then. Speak." Valerio said as he carefully analysed the twins.
"What?" replied Ava and Eve, their voices layering on top of each other.
"Who are you guys? Where are you from… or what are your names?"
Ava turned to Eve and saw her lip twitching. A random man had made them chase after him and refused to cooperate, and now they had to justify themselves?
Who did he think he was?