The size of a spirit was not always a giveaway to their overall power and threat level.
There were many spirits that manifested in a much smaller size that possessed the power to harm many lives and even give experienced Balancers a difficult time.
There was not really a defining trait which would give them away for their power unless they let out their own energy due to them being unable to contain their Life Energy to hide their presence.
Ash had noticed the Evil Spirit exiting the hole in the ground before it emerged thanks to the strong amount of fear emanating from its body.
Much higher grade spirits or spirits that had learned how to cover up their aura were much more troublesome to identify.
If a spirit had a solid state then it would qualify to be on the watch list for the Balancers and would be purified after it had been identified unless they took other measures to trap or capture it.
Some families saw spirits as nothing but tools to be used and made use of them as if they were training wild animals to do their bidding.
Others took the approach of actively hunting spirits that were troublesome while others felt that it was best to contain them in a location.
There were some other options available but they involved more complicated spells or special abilities to be able to handle them.
Seeing that the Evil Spirit had disappeared back into the hole, Ash carefully checked her surroundings before backing off. 'All of the fear I sensed came from that thing…'
There were many types of spirits that were formed from all kinds of things and there were those that had mainly been born from negative feelings.
Those became Evil Spirits upon being born or they eventually became one as they were corrupted more by the negative wills of humans that had helped it take its form and grow.
Seeing that it was the shape of some kind of dark animal that resided in the forest, Ash could only make some sort of connection about what she knew about spirits from the areas she knew about.
She thought to herself as she carefully put some distance between it and herself. 'Humans instinctively feel fear towards things they find scary or dangerous. There would be many that would think of some kind of form residing in the forest that could bring them harm.
Considering the recent events related to the missing child, I am guessing that some of the fear from tonight will probably make its way towards that Evil Spirit. That means that it could become much more dangerous if left alone and not being discovered by a Balancer.
Hmm.. now that I think of it, there had to be some sort of connection between this place and future events. Maybe there may be more Evil Spirits residing in the forest or mountains that have yet to be discovered or dealt with by the Balancers.
If that is the case then.. it is no wonder that the future school incident will become a problem that needs to be addressed as soon as possible by that person."
Ash was just feeling glad that she was cautious enough not to immediately proceed forward to crawl into the hole.
If she had recklessly went forward in the hopes of finding a scared child on the other end then she would have been trapped in a narrow space with little room to protect herself from such an Evil Spirit.
Disturbing an Evil Spirit and provoking it was the last thing she wanted to do especially since she was still very weak and inexperienced.
Learning spells and putting them into practice were two completely different things so she had realised her own faults for not pushing herself to do more than she already had.
If she was a little braver and outgoing much earlier then she would have gained a little bit more confidence and experience but she was instead stuck in her present state where she had to hide from the first Evil Spirit she had encountered.
Even if she had gained more experience, she still felt that the amount of fear radiating from the body of the Evil Spirit was very strong so it was something that would be difficult for her to handle even with some more growth.
Ash couldn't help but make a mental note of its location so that she could avoid its territory and to possibly return one day if she was still in the area to test her abilities against it once she had grown more powerful.
Since the fear was primarily coming from the Evil Spirit and nowhere else, Ash had already decided to walk back to the road where it was safer for her.
She was disappointed that her senses had failed her in locating the child and that she had failed in her first encounter with an Evil Spirit but within her was a tiny spark which had been lit for the first time.
Her determination had grown just a little more than before as she had seen something about the Evil Spirit that attracted her.
Its body radiated a fearful aura that she picked up on and it looked very monstrous in appearance but it still looked very appealing to Ash despite those things.
There was a certain beauty within its monstrous form that radiated that of a cautious and powerful creature that should not be treated carelessly.
One wrong move and it would be provoked into attacking in order to defend itself and its territory.
With all the fear fuelling its impulses, all that was required was just a little thing to provoke it into action.
There was something strangely similar driving it forward just like how Ash had been experiencing the fear take hold of her.
The main difference between the Evil Spirit and herself was that it was able to protect itself and cause a lot of destruction with each of its outbursts while Ash was still much too weak to be able to protect herself from the unknown threats out in the world.
Despite the danger she could have been in, Ash returned back onto the road with a clearer gaze than before.
It was like she had gained some inspiration from the Evil Spirit and had grown more determined to delve deeper into her new life that had been seized by herself. 'Mm.. I cannot keep hiding away and waiting for the opportunities to present themselves.
I cannot keep waiting for the future events to play out for possible opportunities and events to be made use of for my growth. If this continues then I will just keep making excuses to stay inside and lock myself in a territory living my life similar to a spirit confined to its home.
I have got to make some serious moves myself before anything plays out as it is supposed to. Only then.. I will not be so weak and helpless in the face of the incoming chaos.'
With newfound determination, she marched further up the road searching for more auras and picked up on the fear of some mini spirits before turning back towards the village.