Ashton, the Walker Candidate

As the two hearts turned into black ash and slipped between his fingers, Ashy sighed. Just a bit more than a day passed as he sent the now mute child away.

The corpses of the thugs transformed into undead faster than the previous man. The increase in the power after absorbing the hearts was much more too.

'The more "tainted" they are, the closer they are to the darkness. Hence maybe they become undead faster and give more power than others.'

This was both good and bad news. Right now, in front of him were three more fresh corpses. If he were to wait for them to become undead, he could get stronger. However, if he were to wait more, stronger thugs would definitely invade.

For now, he managed to easily kill the thugs with his child appearance but he was sure that not many would fall for his innocent appearance.

'According to the kid, Eclipsed Walkers separated into classes. And the leader of the gang is a Seeker, stronger than Walkers but below that of Champions.'

Learning that there was a power hierarchy of Eclipsed Walkers wasn't a surprise.

Now, with this important information, Ashy would know whom he could fight and whom to avoid even getting in their line of sight at all costs.

To survive in this world, he needed to choose his opponents wisely. So that, he wouldn't court death like how idiots in cultivation novels do.

'Well, from what I can understand, these thugs are just mere cannon fodders for the gang leader to detect my threat level. But, these cannon fodders can kill me if I make a mistake.'

Although Ashy didn't know how Walkers and Seekers separated in power, he knew that he wasn't a Seeker. He was in the power class of Walkers, albeit with some slight extras because of him being part Creature of Darkness.

So, the best course of action in this situation would be—

'Leaving here and finding a new place.'

There was no way he could win against five or more Walkers, let alone a Seeker.

So, like a real man, he chose to run away.

'99% of being a man is running away. I am just following my nature as a real man.'

…

A man in old, dirty clothes was passing through the crowd. He was average in height but had some muscles here and there. It was apparent that he wasn't a starving commoner but a well-developed one.

With a brilliant smile that showed an even more brilliant set of white teeth, the man approached the Eclipsed Walkers who were guarding the gates.

"Hello there, sirs, I want to go out," the man said as he lifted his hands to show that he was not a threat. This was common sense around here when approaching the guards.

The three guards looked at each other before one of them stopped in front of the man. On his chest was a ranking badge of Lantern. This man was a Seeker.

"Name?" the Seeker asked, his voice monotone, devoid of life.

"It is Ashton, sir."

"Age?"

"I should be around 27 this year, sir."

"Reason?"

"I want to be an Eclipsed Walker, sir," Ashton answered as his gray eyes shone briefly.

The Seeker nodded heavily before taking out a sharp knife and handing it to the gray-eyed man. The man pulled his sleeves, took the knife readily, and left a slight cut to his arms. Immediately red blood with a hint of darkness oozed from the cut, as if the blood was dried in his veins...

The metallic scent of the blood was in the air.

Then, the Seeker brought a lantern for the man to touch. An ethereal flame rose, it was gray and leaned toward the darker shades.

"You are already tainted this much, huh?" The Seeker showed emotion for the first time after he met with the man. A mix of sympathy and camaraderie. "You should go to the Capital of Humanity, Alaric City, as soon as possible and get purified by the Tree of Light."

Ashton nodded, his white hair swayed in the air. "I will try to do so, sir."

"Good." The Seeker approved with a softer tone before sending Ashton. "Come back after a week to get your tag."

With a wide smile on his face, Ashton left. Entering back streets one after another, he found a quiet spot. Pulling his sleeves again, he tore apart the wound. Red blood, both dried and fresh spurted from the wound, this lasted for a minute or two before dark red began to trickle down too.

'Damn…'

Ashy, who was in the Ashton persona, wanted to curse but he held back. Although the sensation of tucking the blood of others between his own skin and muscles was too disgusting, it was necessary.

'Phew… it is nice that this isn't an everyday thing to do. I would rather act like a little kid for years instead of suffering this sensation every day.'

Now that he managed to deceive a Seeker to get a tag for himself, he didn't need to always store someone else's blood. A Blood Berry or two would do the trick for regular controls.

To get a tag, the approval of a Seeker is needed. So, he literally stored the blood of human being to pass the Seeker. A mere Blood Berry wouldn't deceive a powerful guy like Seeker, at least he thought so.

To get out and inside the city, Ashy just needed to pass through Walkers. He already passed them as 'Jack', he could pass them again.

With the information he got from the black-haired kid, surviving in this city became so much easier than before.

Normally he wouldn't even dare to try to get a tag for himself but after he learned that they just do blood tests and check the color of the essence, he immediately thought of a few plans before coming here.

It turned out that the 'magical' lantern he used back then was called Essence Lamb, which uses the essence of the body to light a fire. It was common sense that the Creatures of Darkness' essence was always pitch black, so he was basically safe about the essence test with his gray essence.

What Ashy was most worried about was his blood, which was close to dark in color rather than red.

But he solved this problem pretty easily too. He could put Blood Berries between his skin and muscles with his powers as a part doppelganger, so why not blood?

That was how he became Ashton, the new Eclipsed Walker candidate. However, to get his tag, he needed to wait for a week. Fortunately, he knew what to do in this free time.

*****

"The thought of destroying the Beacon of Darkness? Many tried, but only a few of them returned. Without even trying to give us the hope that we desperately wanted, they claimed that they were too weak. They were our strongest… At that time we knew our end was inevitable."