After calming down, Lilith had to change her plans slightly due to the last development.
The Wailing Mountain had an unstable type of mental energy within it, and that caused her mind to be attacked constantly when the screams came.
She didn't know of any other possible weird things that could happen, so she had to accelerate her pace and cross the region faster.
The situation wasn't absolutely terrible, but it was better to be cautious since she had limited information at her disposal.
Lilith closed her eyes, and her focus turned into her inner universe.
The countless navy blue pathways and orbs were revealed to her, and she started her next steps towards power.
It was time to begin creating an Innate Spell.
Unlike the pathways, the 'orbs' were much more versatile.
The pathways could alter some of their properties, such as thickness, width, and sturdiness.
But those changes were extremely limited, and still had to follow the general shape and attributes of the pathways.
The 'orbs', however, were different.
They could change the size, the possible energy allowed to be transferred, transparency, and many more.
Each change can produce a different effect when attempting to use a spell, and with their numbers, it proves infinite possibilities.
They would be the core for creating an Innate Spell.
Since they could be changed to such extremes, she can make them produce an effect of a spell permanently and with virtually zero heavenly essence needed to activate them.
However, that would mean that it wouldn't be possible to create another Innate Spell.
When she reaches a higher Category, more orbs would be available to her—hopefully.
Lilith studied her pathways for a while, then started forming the theoretical diagram of the Innate Spell in her mind.
Just because she learned [Eye of the Storm], it didn't mean that she could convert it into an Innate Spell instantly.
When the diagram was completed, she would have to permanently change the shape of the orbs according to what she needed.
It wasn't the hardest part, anyway. She would have to concentrate a huge amount of heavenly essence on the orbs, as the complete diagram would state.
Several hours passed with Lilith mediating, and the faint grey light of the sun finally came through the dense forest.
The screams were constantly trying to claw at her sanity, but thankfully, Noah forced them to be just an extremely annoying background noise.
When the light dawned on the region, the screams gradually faded until they returned to whatever shit hole they came from.
Lilith sighed in relief, she had feared that they would grow in intensity, but they didn't.
Her sleep was ended abruptly last night, but that wasn't concerning.
She only slept because she wanted to be in peak efficiency, not because it was absolutely necessary.
She could go on without sleep for days, but that wouldn't be the best choice.
Lilith still didn't create the Innate Spell yet, but she chose to continue climbing the Wailing Mountain.
With her bag on her back and the spear in her hand, she jumped from one branch to the other.
During her advancement, she saw multiple other creatures. There were other beast groups that were similar to the wolf pack that she had killed.
And some were stronger.
However, she didn't care about engaging with them, she wouldn't gain much anyway.
The combination of [Eye of the Storm] and [The Primordial Sense] kept her hidden at all times.
Like that, two more days passed, during which Lilith crossed several dozen kilometers.
Theoretically, she could pass through the region in a short span of time compared to her current pace, but that would be with ignoring other threats and variables.
Which was just stupid.
During those two days, she had slept three hours each night and continued creating the Innate Spell when the annoying screams came.
That routine soon came to a stop when she saw something unexpected on the third day.
***
[Why don't you try to stab yourself with the spear? It would be interesting! It's for science!]
Noah spoke enthusiastically in her mind.
The last days were quite boring, so her brother was saying some random shit to pass the time.
She ignored his words and resumed jumping, her deadpan expression showing her disinterest in his bullshit.
True, she was curious to see what would happen, but she wasn't suicidal either.
[Yeah, not suicidal my foot.]
Lilith almost stumbled and fell from the tree branch, had he read her thoughts?
[No, dummy. I can't read your mind. However, it looks like you've forgotten to turn off the switch when you start talking to me. Bad habit, eh?]
Hearing his words, she was about to erupt in anger but stopped halfway. A realization was slowly forming in her mind.
To talk with Noah, she would have to 'will' her thoughts to be open for him to hear. Leaving her mind like an open book.
So, if his words were true and she had forgotten to flip the 'switch' off for a while...
Lilith stopped moving, standing motionless on the tree branch.
Her pale face turned a bright shade of red, and her lips and ears twitched rhythmically.
She swayed a little, the heat burning on her face dizzying her.
"You... you bastard... w–why didn't you..."
His voice came 'surprised' in her mind:
[Oh! Oh my. I just thought that my lil sis wanted to share her thoughts with me! Turns out, I was wrong... don't blame your brother, though! Your mistake!]
Lilith's ears twitched more at his audacity and the obvious sarcasm in his voice.
She wanted to lash out, but remembering her 'thoughts' of the earlier days sent her into another spiral of embarrassment.
Her impossibly flushed face turned a shade deeper.
"Hmph! Bastard!"
She stomped her foot on the tree branch in anger and continued jumping, trying to chase off the embarrassment. Piece of shit! Hmph!
Lilith was pissed off, and the faint giggles that she heard made her even more so.
For her own mental health, she pretended that nothing had happened, but that was hard to do.
She grumbled under her breath, and she felt hungry from frustration.
After cursing countless times under her nose, Lilith suddenly stopped.
Her embarrassment vanished in nearly an instant, and her Nightmare Elf instincts kicked in.
The ghostly-blue eyes turned cold, and a predatory intent was released from them.
There were people here.
The more she advanced into the forest, the higher the trees got. The tree that she was in was 300 meters high.
Far below her, [The Primordial Sense] picked up multiple persons.
A few hundred meters in front of her, a large clearing was occupied by a huge boulder.
Under the boulder, there was a group of about 20 human figures.
They mostly wore dark robes, but she was confident that they were humans.
However, what her senses picked up made her frown.
Lilith had to admit that several of the humans were stronger than her.
They used items and spells to hide their aura, but that was bypassed by [The Primordial Sense].
[Humans, eh? What are you gonna do now?]
Noah spoke, and there was a hint of malice in his voice.
Lilith remained silent for a few moments, then responded:
[Regardless of why they are here, I have to gain information from them. Pretending that they don't exist would be stupid.]
Then, slowly, her lips curled into a crazy, hungry grin. She licked her lips unconsciously.
[I'm also quite hungry...]