"Ugh..."
He grunted softly while opening his eyes.
His mind felt a bit dizzy and disorganized when the warm, bright light of the sun above assaulted his red irises. With a prompt action, he used his hands to cover his face, shielding himself from the glare. As his red eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness of his surroundings, he took a shallow breath.
HAAAH!
A minute later, he sighed. He slowly stood up with a heavy slothfulness reeking from his every move, his limbs feeling weighted and unfamiliar.
Finally, he saw the world for the first time. Indeed, he had just been born in this place, right in the middle of a dense, ancient forest. Though where he stood was a small clearing, about a few dozen meters in diameter, it was covered in soft emerald grass that moved according to the cool wind and shone in the warmth of the brilliant sunlight.
His head moved slowly, his expression confused and curious like a child as he observed his immediate surroundings. Though he was a newborn, there was still the glint of an adult's intelligence—completely unlike that of a typical infant—gleaming within those crimson eyes.
"A calamity..." he muttered in a low voice while looking at the palms of his hands with a calm, analytical gaze. "I am..."
He stood there for a few seconds with a blank look, while his shoulder-length crimson hair fluttered in the calm and quiet breeze of the thick forest. However, soon he grasped his head, his eyes squinting at the sudden headache that came out of nowhere. With this new sensation of pain also came foreign Information about many matters that made his eyes go moderately wide.
"Hmmm..."
He closed them tightly, trying to understand and process this sudden influx of knowledge.
Ten minutes passed in silence. The pain had already nulled, and his eyes opened once more, silently and quietly observing the moving grass below. But if one were to look closely, they would be able to see the glint of pain and determination, and even a spark of wrath and hatred, within those ever-calm crimson eyes.
SIGH!
He exhaled deeply.
Then, in this brief tranquil silence, he heard it—the footsteps of a predator approaching. His slightly pointed ears twitched while his head turned toward the sound. Though he could not see the Calamity approaching in the darkness of the dense forest clearly, he could still feel the mythical life of the soul just a few hundred meters away, lurking in the shadows of the forest surrounding him.
He sensed the Calamity, which was radiating a strong, gripping, and bloodthirsty presence. It was fortunate that his own aura was still quite weak, as it hadn't been that long since he was born. Nonetheless, this creature was strong, undoubtedly proven by the simple fact that despite his weak and unstable presence, it was still able to sense him from so far away. And now, it was trying to pinpoint the location of the weak prey it sensed. The distance between them was still approximately four to five hundred meters, so he still had some time to escape.
"How unfortunate..."
"My birthplace actually lies within the territory of this powerful Calamity," he muttered to himself in a grim tone. "Anyhow, just from the massive aura which it is releasing unabashedly, I suppose it must be a rank three Calamity at the very least!"
He guessed the rank while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Actually, and surprisingly, he wasn't afraid at all. His lack of fear was completely perceivable from how calm he remained, despite perfectly knowing that he had no chance of winning against this beast as a mere rank one Calamity himself. The question of why that was so could only be answered by him.
However, looking at how he had immediately turned around and started advancing toward the opposite direction from the predator, it was clear that despite his calmness, he wasn't stupid enough to fight the thing searching for him frantically.
"Although the Calamity is unintelligent and savage in nature, unlike me, it still is impossible for me to kill it as I am now, even with my foreign abilities!" He voiced with a steady tone, his voice firm and showing no hint of fear.
'I should find some weaker calamities first to get myself familiar with my own strength and weaknesses first without thinking of anything else.'
He mused silently while entering the deeper forest. He did not forget to completely suppress his own aura to the utmost. This task actually wasn't hard for him as a sentient Calamity, and it made it much harder for most savage creatures to spot him in this wilderness.
However, that did not mean he was safe. Actually, though a Calamity, he was still a Mortal Calamity, meaning in all senses, he needed sustenance to keep himself alive. In other words, he needed to find food and water—the most basic things a mortal required to remain alive in this plane.
... ... ... ... ...
Seconds passed. Minutes passed. Soon, hours passed.
As he walked beneath the dense canopy and amidst the twenty to thirty-meter-tall trees, he kept sensing many flaring auras of various calamities. Unfortunately, they were all far stronger than him, ranging from Ascension rank three to some even at rank four. The fortunate thing was that, as a weaker being amidst the strong, he was actually quite good at suppressing his presence and remaining hidden among the trees as he silently advanced forward in search of his own prey.
SIGH!
"I can't believe the first thing I'm doing after being born is hide and hide," he grumbled in a frustrated voice. "I know I'm strong and perhaps even have a potential far greater than these pitiful savage calamities, but I guess it is still not enough."
Exhaling again, he closed his eyes. He stood in the shadow of a tall tree while quietly feeling the bloodthirsty presences of the many savage calamities lurking in the shallow darkness of the unending forest.
'In spite of my intelligence, the fact that I have been hiding since the start of my life, even after six hours, is proof that I'm weak, pathetically weak...' he chuckled wryly, his eyes opening and gleaming with a mocking light.
From the little Information he received at his birth, he somewhat understood what kind of situation he was in. He knew that as an intelligent Calamity, if he could not become strong quickly, then regardless of the dangers of this unforgiving land, he would certainly be hunted down by outsiders. It was just a matter of time. After all, every part of his body—a sentient Calamity's body, from soul to heart—was a resource worthy of waging wars among the many powers of the outside!
Normally, an intelligent Calamity like himself would be born at least as an Ascension rank seven Calamity, but here he was, roaming and hiding as a pitiful Ascension rank one creature! Now, he did not know why that was so. Whether it was because there wasn't much Energy where he was born to raise his Ascension rank, or if that Energy went somewhere else entirely.
For example, perhaps it was spent in developing his innate abilities or toward his Calamity blood.
However, he was sure that he was just a tier-one Pureblood Calamity. In fact, the only obvious difference between him and the other calamities he could observe was the difference in their intelligence. Or perhaps their abilities too! Indeed, that could be the case.
Maybe he was born weak because the Energy that was supposed to go toward raising his Ascension rank had instead gone toward developing his strange abilities, of which he had some idea, yet wasn't entirely sure.