"..." Though at a loss for words, he backed off a little.
The strange trees, still clinging to each other like two elderly people struggling to move, slowly straightened up as he retreated slightly.
Alright… it was clear now, this wasn't an illusion. These bizarre trees were definitely avoiding him.
But why? Was it because he looked ugly?
Ronan hovered in place, contemplating whether he needed to ask them or not. Then he remembered that he didn't have a mouth, and besides, asking questions to trees… did he have some kind of mental illness?
Forget it. Ronan started to float back but suddenly stopped a few meters away.
He didn't turn around; the "black mist" remained still. Yet, he could still see the two large trees behind him returning to their original positions.
He should have realized it earlier! From the moment he looked into that puddle of water, from the first observation of this strange world, he should have known—despite having no eyes, he could still see. And not just in the usual way that eyeballs perceive things. His field of vision now spanned a full 360 degrees with no blind spots.
In all directions—front, back, left, right, up, and down—a wide field of vision unfolded clearly in Ronan's mind. And his internal monologue felt a bit too real, as if the words were traveling through the air like normal sound.
And… birdsong! Ronan suddenly sped up. The black mist flew through the dense forest, following the sound until he found a small stream.
A deer bounded away from the thick grass along the bank. On the shore, a brown bear was leisurely drinking water, while on the surface of the stream, a flock of black wild ducks preened their feathers in the sunlight.
It wasn't just sight—Ronan actually had hearing and smell too. He could smell the fragrance of wildflowers as he drifted toward the stream.
His presence caused some animals to leave the stream's edge, but the wild ducks didn't seem to react. Ronan approached them, but his attention was quickly drawn to the fish swimming beneath the surface.
He tried touching the water.
The mist extended a "tendril," and as soon as it touched the water, it melted like cotton candy. Startled, Ronan didn't immediately retreat from the stream but instead submerged more of his form beneath the surface.
He didn't really dissolve. Under the pale green water, the black mist resembled a clump of aquatic plants, chasing after a silver fish.
Ronan "played" in the stream for a while before slowly floating back into the air. He instinctively shook his body, but no water droplets fell from him.
This forced him to consider an important question: What exactly was he made of?
When he first touched the stream, he had felt a chill, just like how a human would feel when coming into contact with cold water.
So, putting aside everything else for now, at least he wasn't afraid of water. And, it seemed he didn't have any issues with breathing underwater either. Also… the thought that had flashed through his mind when he left the stream became even clearer now.
It seemed his consciousness was gradually waking up and becoming more complete, while some kind of energy stored within him was fusing with his awareness.
No matter what, Ronan still hoped he could look a bit more human.
As soon as he had this thought, the mist above the water suddenly began to twist and change.
Ronan stared at the surface of the water, horrified to discover that a small red hole had suddenly caved in within his body. This red hole was slowly absorbing the surrounding light and gradually becoming more substantial.
For a brief moment, the image in Ronan's mind became blurred, and soon his "perspective" shifted. The 360-degree view he had before vanished. The red hole had turned into a red eyeball, now embedded within the black mist, staring unblinkingly at the stream below.
Ronan was stunned.
Once again, he could see himself.
But this time, he wasn't using the all-encompassing vision from before; it was through the newly formed eyeball.
Ronan observed himself with his new eye and, to his dismay, found that his field of view was very limited. If he wanted to look behind him, he'd have to "turn around." If he wanted to look up, he'd have to "flip over."
Since the eye was located on the right side, he couldn't even see much to his left.
It was like being half-blind, an inconvenient and frustrating handicap.
The mist-like Ronan floated in circles over the water, his red eyeball fixated. He couldn't afford to think about how all of this had happened or why; he just wanted to solve this immediate problem as quickly as possible.
Gathering his thoughts again, he stared at his reflection in the water, trying to imagine another eye forming on his left side.
Unfortunately… the wind passed silently, and nothing happened for a long time.
Feeling both dejected and helpless, Ronan resigned himself to navigating the forest with his single eye. But the change in his vision led him to repeatedly bump into tree branches.
He didn't dare move too far, since he was unsure about the dangers that were lurking in this strange world. He could only cautiously explore the nearby area, and when night fell, he stopped moving.
Perhaps it was a habit carried over from his previous life as a human, but even though his single eye wasn't affected by the darkness, he still sought out a tree hollow to crawl into for rest.
The forest didn't quiet down with the coming of night. Huddled inside the hollow, Ronan heard all kinds of sounds—the cries of unknown animals, the roars of predators, and occasional flashes of light.
That night was unbearably long. Ronan realized he didn't feel sleepy at all.
He mockingly speculated that it was probably because he had become some kind of unknown creature, so he didn't even need sleep anymore.