All Ash could do was draw open the experiences of her own youth that had yet to be forgotten as she grew older and more mature.
Her temperament may not as been as naughty and playful as other children when she was younger but she had seen the kinds of things other kids got up to.
If a child did go missing for whatever reason then it was likely that they had wandered off into another location that they were not supposed to venture into and had gotten lost.
There had been no mention of other kids being with them moments before they went missing so they must have went off on their own.
There were still some possibilities of them being lured or taken away by others but Ash did not want to jump to the worst case scenarios right away.
She closed her eyes after looking around the village and watching the movements of the villagers as they frantically searched around with flashlights lighting up their path in the darkness.
Her mind calmed down a little as Ash began to slowly tap into her special Skin Walker physique.
Most spells or abilities belonging to her physique could be used at the cost of her Life Energy.
Each one varied depending on how much of a toll it took on her body.
Being able to transform small parts of her body lessened the consumption while trying to transform into something different from her size and build would drain away her Life Energy more with every passing moment.
That was just a very small part of the physique of the Skin Walker since they were most specialised in trickery and transformation but there was another feature that stood out among the various capabilities of her physique.
Skin Walkers were embodiments of fear whether they carrying fear within themselves or they fed upon the fear of others to empower themselves.
Their sensitivity to fear could be considered as an innate part of their bodies.
It was something that Ash did not make use of and had little practice with.
She could not pick up on any other things using such a supernatural sensing innate ability even if it was happiness, sadness or other emotions.
It had to be something very closely related to fear.
The locations where she had previously seen the villagers running off to had a mix of different levels of fear lingering around them.
Some had very high levels that made it easier to keep track of their movements a little further away while some others had weaker fear that could not be kept track of from where she was stood.
It was somewhat similar to a supernatural sense that worked depending on a certain range unless the fear was much stronger and it could possibly improve as she grew stronger and gained a better mastery over it.
It was like she could taste or smell the lingering fear in the air around her that came from the bodies of those that were radiating it.
Her brows knit as she started to lose track of some while trying to gain a better understanding of her new senses. 'From my understanding… this is kind of like being able to sense one of the possible wills, desires or emotions of humans.
According to the knowledge I gained from the state I was in, every single human releases some kind of energy from their bodies almost like it is leaking out of them. Those emotions, desires, ideas and many other parts that come from humans play a large part in how spirits manifest and are created or brought back once again after being purified.
If my understanding is correct then the senses that I am picking up on is a small portion of those many things leaking from humans and are mostly linked to fear. I wonder if there is anyone else out there with a similar ability or senses that can pick up on similar things?'
Each person with a unique physiology had a range of different attributes that would let them stand above others.
Some gained special eyes or other sensory ability boosts while others gained pure physical power if they were lucky enough to possess such a rare physique.
There were many unconventional and weird abilities that existed too so it would not be too surprising that there was someone else out there that was similar to Ash.
Ash cut off her sight first by closing her eyes then covered her ears next to cut off her main senses that she relied on as she tried her best to focus more on her senses towards fear.
Nothing was picked up from where she had stood so it was unlikely that the child was still somewhere nearby.
It was getting much darker and the child would be growing increasingly unsettled as time passed without being able to arrive where they felt safe.
If by some chance that they were somewhere being held in the village then they would be releasing some form of negative emotions related to fear but Ash was unable to pick up on any so she ruled that part out before opening her eyes again.
She carried a backpack over her shoulder that had some things kept inside in case of there being any troubles and she turned on the flashlight in her hands as she walked down the path that was between the village and the nearby town.
Ash would occasionally stop along the path for a little while to concentrate on trying to pick up on any traces of fear but kept gaining nothing useful. "Sigh.."
Ash was just about to give up and turn back to go look around a different direction around the village when she suddenly sensed something very faint. "Hm?"
A ghostly white glow appeared in her eyes for a moment as her eyelids opened showing a small trace of emotion within them which showed that she was a little hopeful towards being able to pick up on something. "It would be best to check it out."
She nodded to herself then turned her body towards the direction where the faint trace had appeared briefly before disappearing.
Even if it was just one of the villagers that she had sensed who were searching around the area, it was still best that she went to investigate even the slightest trace.
It was better to follow up on whatever was found and risk failure than choosing to ignore such traces and possibly missing out on something that could have led to success.