Death... and me

Roan would be their only chance since Rean couldn't communicate with Qia, Calina, or Agis. Understanding that, Roan increased his pace, trying to catch the little girl. Unfortunately, the girl seemed to have complete control of this place, so she could keep up the same speed as him.

Roan began to lose his patience, though.

"If you don't stop right now, I swear you'll regret it when I get you!"

Rean felt like crying...

'Is that how you try to ease things up?'

'Shut up! Time is limited, and she isn't stopping. Do you have a better idea?'

'What about being more gentle?'

'Me? Gentle? Do you think that's possible?'

Rean sighed.

'Right... forget I said anything.'

Roan pondered for a bit before saying to the girl in the distance.

"I know your sister, Liza."

Hearing that, the girl in the distance stopped.

"Yo-You know Liza?"

Roan sighed in relief and continued.

"You finally stopped. Listen, I wasn't angry at you when I first screamed. It was my idiot brother who talked a lot of shit that made me angry. It had nothing to do with you... Well, I did get angry when you didn't stop, though."

Roan didn't stop, saying.

"Anyway, the one who met your sister was my brother. He's in the same Bloodline Trial as I am now."

Roan then gave a quick explanation about what Rean talked about with Liza.

"Th-Then... how does she look like?"

Roan narrowed his eyes and answered with another question.

"It depends. Do you girls change your appearance when you enter this white world? After all, she might have looked different when she talked with my brother."

The girl quickly shook her head.

"Liza wouldn't do that!"

Roan nodded and then used Rean's memories to describe Liza's features.

"It-It really is Liza. Your brother really talked to her! But how...? No one should be able to talk to you while you're here."

Roan used that chance to get on the girl's side. She was ready to flee at any moment, though. However, Roan didn't do anything. He simply sat down by her side before pointing down.

"Sit. Let's talk. I'm not the type of person who has a lot of patience. However, I'll try to not make things difficult. Besides, I should be the first human you've ever seen in this place, right? Are you sure you want to let this opportunity go?"

The girl seemed to be convinced and immediately sat down as well.

"Yo-You... Who are you?"

Roan shook his head.

"I told you. I'm not someone with patience. My brother tried to get more information about you and your sisters from Liza. However, their time ran out, and he was forced out of this place. What I want from you is information. Otherwise, there's no way we can save you."

The girl was taken aback.

"Save... us? That's impossible. The Zasfin uncles are very strong."

Roan snorted.

"Who cares about their strength? Don't you think it's weird? We're humans, but we're in the Rank Five Bloodline Trials."

The girl was too young, so she took some time to understand what Roan meant.

"What I mean is, all the Bloodline Trials are protected by very strong Zasfins, but we still entered it without any of them seeing. That means we can also get to where you are at the moment. All we need to know is your location. Liza told my brother that you're not in the Bloodline Trial Grounds that we are at the moment. Is that true?"

The girl nodded.

"It is... I can feel that we are very far away."

"Can you tell where you are at the moment?"

The girl shook her head.

"As far as we can remember, we had always been locked down inside the formations."

Roan nodded, not feeling surprised by that. The Bloodline Trials were way too important for each Empire. Naturally, it would have very high security, including not telling the girls where they are.

"It's fine. You said that you can feel that we're very far away from each other. Can you point the general direction? Oh, right. Since you can control this place, let me use Spiritual Sense as well."

The girl nodded, and Roan began to feel Spiritual Energy once again. Following that, he used his Spiritual Sense to show the girl the place they were in. To be more specific, Roan showed his memory of the outside world.

The girl was dragged inside that memory and felt like she was really standing on the outside with Roan. She didn't know such a thing was possible.

"Pay attention. Which direction?"

The girl came back to herself and immediately pointed out.

Following that, Roan and the girl went back to the white world.

However, Roan narrowed his eyes once again. That's because she pointed in a direction completely different from what he thought. Roan assumed that they would be located inside the Palif Empire's Capital or at least close to it. However, the direction was completely different.

However, Rean, who was watching everything through Roan, immediately mentioned.

'I'm looking into the Jade Slip Map here. The direction she pointed was straight north. It might be a coincidence, but she was pointing perfectly in that direction.'

Roan nodded.

'Is there anything inside the Jade Slip Map north from here?'

Rean shook his head.

'Not really. There are a few cities, demon beast regions, and things like that. However, there isn't anything that would catch our attention.'

Rean and Roan had puzzled expressions after that as they thought about it.

'Could it be that they're not in Palif?'

'It could be. We know way too little about these Bloodline Trials.'

Rean then thought about something else and told Roan to ask.

"Tell me, is the Palif Empire the only place where this happens?"

However, the girl answered with another question.

"Where is the Palif Empire?"

Rean and Roan became more sure that perhaps, all Bloodline Trials in the world were controlled from the same place.

'There might be some other power above the Celestial Lands that rule this world.'