Ashton walked through the forest in search for a particular clearing. It was apparently a common camping spot, not that he had ever been out here. He only knew the rough area where he was supposed to go, and was mostly orienting himself using other landmarks he managed to spot within his channelling range.

  But there had to be other ways for Ashton to do this. He couldn't do the same sort of 'energy sensing' technique that he was able to do in the past because he didn't have a core right now. And even if he did manage to form a core, the area of what he would be able to sense at the start was barely larger than his channelling range.

  And with just his spiritual sense and veil mastery, Ashton couldn't sense anything specific either. The best he could do was sense mana anomalies like wells at a distance. Now that he was getting used to things and attuning his senses to his new situation properly, he could sense the mana and veil-imprint of anyone approaching his channelling range. But that was also just when they were a few steps away from his range at best, and he could only tell that something was there. He couldn't even differentiate between monsters and people, at least not yet.

  At that point, Ashton's other senses were more useful for filling in the gaps beyond his channelling range. Things like sound and smell. Just that his senses weren't all that sensitive yet, or at least not to the degree that he was used to. For the first few days, the world around Ashton seemed extremely dull compared to what he knew beforehand with superhuman senses. He had gotten used to it by now, and his senses also increased again, so it was a point where he was able to get back into some of his old patterns a little more.

  The monsters here were a little different to the ones he encountered in Lumia, and he was already much stronger back then, but he was still able to roughly estimate the size and type of an enemy by hearing their footsteps. Particularly here, where there were so many sticks and leaves to break or rustle and make lots of noise through.

  At this point, Ashton was able to send the wisp to attack certain enemies the moment they entered his range, while he was trying to concentrate mostly on things that were going on far away.

  And soon enough, Ashton found his first clue that he was going in the right direction. There were less insects coming right at him. Since apparently, this Marked was somehow able to control the monstrous insects to some degree, they were most likely gathered around that person and were being drawn away from Ashton.

  Before long, Ashton came by a path, too. It wasn't anything special, just something flattened by lots of people walking or driving through here. If he was correctly oriented, and had the right idea of where he was, then he should turn right onto this path and reach the campsite soon enough.

  After just walking a few more minutes, the path opened up into a larger area. There were torn-up tents almost immediately.

  "Went the right way, then..." Ashton whispered to himself, already trying to listen more intently to what was going on around him. It didn't sound like there were any particular monsters around here. Of course, just because they were spotted here didn't mean that the Marked was still nearby. But since there were essentially no bug monsters anywhere near here, that at least showed that Ashton was getting closer.

  He looked around at the traces of destruction. All the tents were completely torn up, and dried blood had soaked between the seams and the teeth of the zippers. By now, there weren't even any bones left, though Ashton could see the traces of scavengers all over the place.

  But as Ashton walked toward the other end of the campsite, he started to spot some slightly more fresh traces. There were the regular carrion crows and rats gnawing on bones. But there were no maggots, flies, or other insects anywhere nearby.

  However, even if they weren't here right now, they did still leave behind their traces. Not all of the insects could fly, and almost all of them were larger than insects were before mana and the system was introduced. It was hard for that many large insects to move around without leaving any traces at all. Plus, the ground was still muddy, and if the last sighting was recent, there should be footsteps somewhere around here.

  They were hard for Ashton to spot, though. He had to compress his channelling range, and also use the gnome-sight to see the wet dirt better in general. Even then, it took a moment, but Ashton soon found some heavy footprints of someone walking through this place bare-footed.

  He used some earth magic to feel the thickness and density of the mud right now.

  "They're heavy, but small... Are they carrying the insects?" Ashton thought to himself. He was also wondering what constellation might be supporting them. If they were able to control insects, and to this degree that even the scavenger bugs weren't around, that went beyond the abilities a Marked should usually have at this point in time.

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  Ashton took a deep breath, and had Poppy cast her speed-boosting spell on him again. And then, he started to run forward. His channelling range was compressed, so he could barely see a few metres ahead of him, but he was able to follow the footprints well enough. When there was something in the way, Ashton had the reaction speed to be able to dodge out of the way of anything even when he was running as fast as he could under these conditions, with the muddy, uneven ground.

  Trees, bushes, monsters—that were quickly taken care of before continuing—and then, finally, a swarm of bugs that was rushing at Ashton.

  "Perfect," he grinned, digging his heels into the ground. He slid a little, but soon stopped fully as he pushed his staff into the ground. Ashton pushed himself up and into a flip over the barbell. When he was in the air, he extended his channelling range to the max to see the approaching monsters better, and then swung his staff over his head and down at the swarm of monsters. With just this, Ashton killed a few of them, and the rest were taken care of with a fire from the salamander that Ashton quickly called on to take care of the rest once the swarm was split.

  They burnt to a crisp and fell to the ground, letting out hisses like quiet screams. But Ashton couldn't relax with that. After the first swarm, more and more came at him. He was ambushed by bugs hiding on trees or on the ground, almost like a trap had been laid for him.

  "Fucking constellations, meddling in annoying ways..." Ashton clicked his tongue as he continued to fight his way through the swarms.

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] will try not to take that personally]

  "Hah, you're demon royalty and you're getting insulted over something like that?" he scoffed with a smile on his face.

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] rolls their eyes, saying it was but a joke]

  [[Executor of the End] looks at the Daughter and chuckles]

  [[Executor of the End] asks if that is really the truth]

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] glares at the Executor and tells them to be silent]

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] tells the Executor to focus on the quest]

  [[Executor of the End] shrugs and points out that it is your loss if the quest fails]

  Ashton let out a long sigh. "I know that it's my loss, but what am I supposed to do? It's hard to find Marked."

  There was a moment of silence, before the next messages appeared.

  [[Observer in the Veil] points out that you met a Marked Human just hours ago]

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] adds that you even acknowledged him as such]

  A large, dog-sized beetle came rushing at Ashton. He used the gnome's and the undine's magic to make the ground underneath its feet basically pull it in. Ashton jumped up and put his whole weight into an attack onto the bettle's head, splitting it off its body.

  "I know that, but that situation is a bit more complicated. While yes, that guy was a Marked, he didn't actually seem all that changed from before," Ashton said clearly, and the constellations seemed surprised.

  [[Executor of the End] asks if you are sure that he was the same way before turning]

  "Yes, I'm sure. He actually seemed a bit more stoic at first before trying to beat my skull in. I also don't know what he's turning into, but I won't lie to you, anything seems like an improvement," Ashton pointed out. "Either way, he didn't have monstrous bloodlust, at least not yet, so there's a little time to at least discuss things with Clementine first."

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] is confused why you care so much for that girl's opinion]

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] says you should just get rid of any potential threat right away]

  "As I said, it's more complicated than that. Not every Marked is totally evil. Killing others in self-defence counts in the first quest as well. What's more important is their behaviour afterward and how they actually change as they become a Marked."

  A figure came within Ashton's channelling range. Just as he thought, it was a relatively short person. A man. Walking around almost naked, with numerous bugs crawling all over him. There were a lot of shieldbugs on his torso specifically, and a massive centipede was wrapped around his arm and neck.

  "So right now, Clementine's father didn't act different to how he did before, and if he weren't a Marked, whether or not I would kill him wouldn't even be a discussion. He deserves it, but Clementine still loves her parents even a little bit."

  [[Executor of the End] asks about the danger the Marked's followers are in]

  Now that was a loaded question. The Executor knew the threat perfectly well, as did the other two constellations. They just wanted to know why Ashton was dismissing Jonah's threat.

  And... it was hard to explain.

  "You saw the people hiding in the church, too. Yes, they were scared, they were injured, but... they were smiling. And sure, a lot of them were incredibly forced, but..." Ashton said with a complicated smile himself.

  Ashton leapt over the centipede that was being thrown at him and pushed his staff against one of the shield-bugs around the Marked's head. Its exoskeleton cracked and the metal bar pushed through, as the wisp's two bodies slammed into the back of the staff one after another.

  As the Marked fell to the ground and Ashton followed behind, driving the staff deeper into its brain, he let out a slight sigh.

  "...even if it's hollow, and even if they're just forcing themselves to be happy somehow, it bought Jonah some time until I get to talk things out with Clementine."