After leaving the group behind, through dangers and narrow gaps between many corpses, Alice searched for me. The deceased bodies were piled up to a scary extent. The smell too propagated via the area, bringing nothing but a sense of death to those who dared walked upon the bloody mess.

It made her wonder why such a slaughter was even needed, but worse yet, it caused her senses to become uncontrollable.

The thick scent caused her nostrils to be charmed, widening slightly for more of its wonderful fragrance to follow.

To her utmost best, she kept walking, slower with each step taken. Her body shivered and became heavier. 

The bloodthirsty curse was starting to take over her senses.

“Pandora... Pandora,” she pleaded in hopes of reaching me. But halfway to the destination, she lost herself in the shades of red.  

Thereafter, with her sharp fangs, she began feeding herself like a creature whose mind didn’t work.

The flavors that passed the nose were many. The number of users and monsters laying on the ground was too many to count.

I had ruined too many lives. 

Near Alice, there was a green goblin, whose head had been smashed by the child’s tutorial hammer.

Planet Earth had 6 billion humans. The number had decreased due to the lack of resources and wars.

Throughout the tutorial, perhaps that quantity had halved.

Had there been meaning to such murdering? 

Had the entity truly believed that only through a great trial that the reincarnated would strive?

It was true throughout the story that humans had been a race that strived independently of how harsh their lives were.

There had even been individuals who had nothing and almost obtained everything.

Rich men who indulged themselves in drink, lust, and drugs met their end early on.

There had been far too many abnormalities in our kin’s behavior.

Yet, we survived wars, plagues, incurable diseases, and significant climatic changes that caused the destruction of cities.

Despite it all, we remained.

And in this new world, many of us once again withstood the horrors firmly. Some even relished this new ordeal.

“Pandora, Pandora, Pandora,” she kept calling for me, having satisfied herself with enough nutrients.

Her hands covered her mouth and nose, trying to not be misled by the fragrant aromas.

What had been a practically empty beach with a few green rocks was now so dyed in red that it looked like hell. Even the river had a different tone to it. 

Through a lot of effort, her hands got a hold of my broken self.

I had shattered in ways that I didn’t believe to be possible. 

Even then, despite looking like a useless piece of garbage, she took me with her in the most careful way possible, as if I was the most important thing in the world.

Conceivably to her, I was the leftover of what she could call family.

Or simply her trustworthy contracted partner.

‘Pandora?’ her small feet made their way to the forest as the fierce competition in the battlefield went on. 

“Quest information,” she whispered, finding some information appearing close to her hands.

Area quest 933/1000.

Without a doubt, some features of this world were quite interesting, resourceful, and practical.

Yet, the numbers had increased tremendously fast. Perhaps considering the overwhelming number of the reincarnated, such was to be expected.

“Pandora? Please talk to me...” she suffered from the silence of my faded self.

I found myself to be unconscious. To a soul, the term numb was likely the righteous answer. But what truly mattered, was that I didn’t have the capability to talk via telepathy or on that note to hear anything.

It was like swimming in the night, surrounded by darkness, trying not to lose my strength, and ending up drowning.

I didn’t want to be engulfed in death. By all means, such had already happened once. 

The world had been very cruel to many of us; me included. And when I thought my new life was taking a pleasant turn, I broke down.

Deep within, I hoped it wouldn’t be everlasting.

In preference, someone that could fix me.

And fast.

Alice held me with an embrace as her arms sheltered her knees. For a while, she stood by a tree with her back leaning on it.

The numbers of the quest kept moving, but she no longer cared for any of it.

Her gaze stood on me, on her precious little tattered white box.

With a dying breath, a defeated whisper escaped her soft small lips, “Pandora's information.”

The durability was negative beyond what she considered possible. It was to such an extent that it made her twin sapphires twinkle and tremble.

Time took a while to pass by, but with it, hope came around to the child. The durability had recovered, even if ever so slightly.

She remembered then of her prior tests with my guidance. I had a repairable ratio of ten per ten minutes. 

This meant that it would take a prolonged period for me to return to my former self.

‘I can do this,’ she was willing to survive without me, no matter the cost. And that was when she remembered the seer. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get some assistance and get a few allies. Especially, if they were willing to take a vampire into their group.

‘Would he want me to?’ Her gaze lowered to one of the corners, unsure. Her appearance and needs seemed to scare many people.

Yet, there was something special about that old man that piqued her interest.

The fact that he came looking for her.

‘Oh unholy child,’ he had called her in such a poetic, unique way. Had she been older, perhaps those words would have moved her in a distinct way.

“I’ve decided!” With a brief smile, she got up, checking her surroundings before starting her own quest of finding the ancient one.