The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Evelyn looked at Cecilia a little skeptically.

"Is it really the strongest spirit beast in the continent?"

The ash blonde nodded. "That's right!"

"Why would it allow itself to be used like this, then?"

Cecilia smirked. "I thought so too when I first found out. But the instructors explained it to me, and then I understood."

The pink haired girl couldn't help but be interested. Although she was sure that this 'Thousand Eyed God' couldn't be as strong as the strongest experts on the planet, it should still be quite formidable to be called the strongest spirit beast on the continent.

"Well, spill it then! What's the reason?"

Cecilia's smiled mischievously. "What do I get for telling you?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Just tell me, c'mon!"

The ash blonde laughed. As another group of commoner students phased into their compartment, occupying the remaining empty tables, Cecilia huddled closer to Evelyn to whisper in her ears.

"Well, if you think about it, what if the 'Thousand Eyed God' isn't the one being used, but it's the one using us?"

Evelyn also subconsciously softened her tone into a whisper as she watched Vivian jumping in delight. The little girl seemed fascinated when the strange bead carriage started moving, rapidly gaining momentum.

She suddenly had a déjà vu of the time when Bree had taken them to the Port of Nemer to buy Ruru. Vivian had been just as delighted to be floating around then.

Evelyn sighed as she rubbed the little puppy's ears. Its stats hadn't changed since that day two years ago, except for the vitality falling by two points. Even her intelligence showed no signs of recovery.

The pink haired girl shook her head to clear the depressing thoughts. It was more important to focus on the present first. As for Bree's situation, worrying about it aimlessly would just do more harm than good.

The core of the issue was insufficient information. Aside from getting stronger, Evelyn had to do her best to gather as much information as possible. Perhaps this way, some clues would come to her hands that could lead to Bree's recovery.

"It's faster than you thought, right?"

Evelyn nodded. "Mhm… given that it has to slide on the ground, I didn't think it would be faster than carriages."

As someone who understood how friction worked, although not at a deeply scientific level, Evelyn had always considered wheels to be the ideal way of moving on the ground. How could sliding objects ever compare?

The only better way to move was to fly.

Cecilia laughed as she remembered that she, too, had been quite shocked when she first saw it. Even when her grandmother carried her to fly over, it was nowhere as fast as the speed they were currently going at.

And her grandmother was one of the strongest in the empire, on par with the guardians of the royal family.

"Ahaha… but of course, a legendary artifact that is powered by such a strong spirit beast, how can it be slow? In fact, I think if it went full speed, those people outside wouldn't be able to keep up."

Evelyn turned her eyes to the blue robed figures who had been escorting them. Most of them were flitting by like shadows, some flying, some on foot. Even as the woods passed them by at an absurdly fast speed, none of them seemed to struggle to keep up.

Although she was slightly distracted, Evelyn's attention was still primarily focused on her conversation with Cecilia.

Her interest was less for trivia, and more for this 'Thousand Eyed God'. She felt that although it was too strong for her currently, it could definitely prove to be of great use in the future. The more she knew, the better.

"What use could it make of us by carrying us over to the academy? What does the academy compensate it with?"

Most of the students at this time, including Amara and Vivian, were already entirely focused on watching the rapidly changing scenery in fascination. Even if Evelyn and Cecilia started speaking normally instead of exchanging whispers, it was doubtful anyone would pay attention.

It was no wonder, because most of them had never seen such tall, dark and foreboding trees. Nor those vast lakes full of dark, ominous waters.

"You know how the forest area surrounding the academy for thousands of miles is considered the 'Wonderland of Doom', right?"

Evelyn nodded.

"Mhm. I know. It's very easy to lose yourself in the eerie and beautiful sights, and just as easy to become the prey of a powerful predator. But although this place is beautiful and eerie, there is no spiritual hypnosis or anything strange going on. The only real danger is predators."

"Correct. And why do you think there's never been a case of an academy student's death while passing through the forest?"

The pink haired girl tilted her head in confusion. There were already some wolf like beast groups that had been attracted by the commotion, but they were swiftly dispatched by the blue robed figures almost before most students could notice.

Even though the guardians were so fast and efficient, some commoner students could still be seen shaking in fear as they watched the slaughter. Perhaps the transparency of walls on both sides of the compartment served as both a baptism and a lesson.

Nevertheless, the effortless slaughter of the beasts confirmed Evelyn's thoughts.

"Uh, with so many guardians with us, how could security be an issue? This artifact should be strong enough to protect the students while they deal with any incoming threat. It's no wonder no one's died, right? From what I know, level sixty and above people can pass by this zone with a very low chance of death."

Cecilia nodded. "Right. I thought so too at first. But a single person passing by isn't enough to attract the really strong beasts. It's only when they're really unlucky that they come across one and die. For an entire expedition of this size, though?"

"You mean to say there are beasts strong enough to threaten even this group?"

"Just wait. You'll see. It's quite frequent, after all."

As if to demonstrate her words, not even five minutes later a ginormous ape-like blue creature tore through the tall trees and shot towards the expedition like lightning.

And instead of protecting them, the blue robed guardians instantly scattered away from the best, putting the carriage between the blue ape and themselves.

"WHAT?!"

"NOOO!!!"

Instantly, the students inside were in a pandemonium, completely unable to believe that they had been abandoned just like that. Screams of terror and disbelief filled the compartment, making Evelyn's sensitive ears ring painfully.

"Ugh…"

Even Vivian's face was pale as she huddled into Amara's arms, although the older redhead was relatively calm.

The blue beast charged towards them recklessly, and before the screams of the students could really make Evelyn's ears bleed, thousands of white 'snakes' burst forth from the ground beneath the ape, instantly destroying its momentum and crushing its figure to half of its original size.

The students watched dumbfounded as the deformed blue and red ball of oozing gore entered the ground with a thunderous boom, followed by another that seemed to come from the front of their 'carriage'.

Evelyn knew the so-called 'Thousand Eyed God' must now be happily munching on its meal.

What was most fascinating to her was how even though the artifact had come to an abrupt halt once the ape had been caught, they didn't experience the sudden change of momentum.

'It is perhaps… a completely separated space, isn't it? It should be quite similar. For the untainted to be grade 5 with such a small space, what grade would this artifact be?'

Cecilia looked quite smug as the carriage started moving once again. It seems like the humongous ape wasn't worth more than a couple of bites for the giant centipede. Perhaps even dozens of such apes wouldn't fill its appetite.

"You see what I mean?"

"Mhm. I get it. If they regularly had to fight beasts like that ape, there were bound to be some casualties among the guardians at some point."

Cecilia nodded. "Right. All those blue robed guardians are actually just here to deal with the small fries that the 'Thousand Eyed God' doesn't think are worth eating. After all, even those 'small fries' can cause some damage to the artifact, which would be disastrously expensive to repair."

Evelyn smiled. "And as long as a stronger beast appears to take the 'bait', it becomes food for that thing. This creates a perfect safety net for us. This thing uses a very roundabout way to hunt though, doesn't it?"

Cecilia smiled. "That's right. I don't know much about it myself, but many at the academy have theorized it over the years. According to them, although the presence of the 'Thousand Eyed God' is quite hidden, allowing it to approach any strong beast without alerting them, that method is too slow to sustain its growth."

Evelyn squinted her eyes. 'So even this absurd thing wants to grow stronger, huh… even though it's the 'strongest spirit beast in the continent', this is definitely worth looking into.'

If Cecilia had known her friend's thoughts, she would definitely regret ever opening this topic. However, she remained blissfully oblivious and continued to blabber.