God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"Sensing mana? No more correctly, brush against it?"

Cain was certainly perplexed by this phrase. It was the first step he had to take if he wanted to become a runecrafter. He wouldn't be able to create a link between mana that was present in the atmosphere if he couldn't brush against the flow patterns in the spiritual realm of reality. That was what was stated in the tome.

However, although he could sense mana during a battle and create all sorts of skills and spells, he had no idea how to do that about runecrafting. To him, mana was just a vague concept. All he knew was that it was needed to activate skills and spells.

As for sensing it and picking at it like it was a feather, that was a foreign concept for him. He decided to consult the system, fully prepared for it to once again demand funds from him. Right now, he had a total of about 100,000 system-granted points, as he had killed a lot of devils and had been gaining achievements back to back, so he was pretty stacked.

However, he knew that with the system's greed, his points might not be as safe as he would want them to be.

Silently cursing the greedy system, he decided to ask it how he could sense mana with the same delicacy

"System... How am I supposed to be able to brush against mana? Are there any special processes in place, procedures I need to follow, or something... "

Cain was hoping he wouldn't have to give out his hard-earned points, but he was about to be grossly disappointed. There was no way in hell that kind of information would be on the low end for someone like Cain. It was fairly common information in higher realms, but it was something of dire importance to Cain and the current world of Urbus.

Hence the price was relatively high in retrospect to the number of system points Cain had.

{Replying to host... This piece of information will cost 50,000 points to acquire...}

"Fucking shit! What the hell?!"

Cain was infuriated. This system was planning on leeching half his points away from him. That was foul play!

{Does the host want to go ahead with the transaction_?}

The system brought up the prompt...

Cain cursed at the system and whoever made it angrily. He was pissed and mentally swore that he would never buy anything from the system again out of frustration.

"Fine... I agree."

{There are many ways to increase sensitivity to mana, but the best and most common way of seg mana is simply meditation. By extending your senses out of your body alongside your internal mana as a vessel, you can interact with the mana in the atmosphere as well as the spiritual realm.

There are many other methods, such as special treasures or mysterious encounters, but the more common one is finding a way to let your senses expand to your surroundings, alongside mana. It is a process that consumes a lot of MP and also brings great strain onto the mind. Only those with exceptionally powerful soul strength and an affinity for sensing mana can do this.

However, these are not the only conditions that are necessary for sensing mana. One also needs diligence as well as the ability to bear great mental pressure}.

"So that's it... "

The process seemed easy, but there was no way it was that uncomplicated. But he still had to try. He would know what to do once he had crossed that bridge.

"Extend my senses?"

Then Cain thought back to the time he had transformed {Blood Ingestion Regeneration} to {Blood Regeneration}. He had done something quite similar...

There was a skill in his possession that allowed him to do something like that. Although not exactly, the {Eye of Clairvoyance} was like an extension of his senses into the environment. It was the best way he had to make contact with the unseen. His devil eyes allowed him to extend his sense outside his body and make sensual contact with the mysteries of the world...

"Extend the senses... "

Repeating that line in his head, Cain sat on the ground in the lotus position and cleared his mind. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and in a moment, he activated his skill...

Suddenly, it was like he had become a god. He was able to observe everything that was happening in a 100-meter radius down to the most minute details. Nothing could escape his godly perception.

Golden veins etched themselves on the left side of his face, forming a web of pulsating golden blood

vessels that pumped hot blood into his eye. His left eye turned a ghastly pale white, as pale as bleached bones...

He was able to enter what most would call the Zone of Tranquility with great ease. Only those blessed with strong souls and great affinity with mana could achieve this. After activating this spell, he was no longer a mortal, but a godlike being...

Skills were an interaction between the soul of the individual and the mana in the atmosphere and spiritual realm. Spells focused more on remote controlling said mana.

The activation of {Eye of Clairvoyance} allowed Cain's soul to extend beyond the boundaries of his mortal body, allowing it to spread into his surroundings. The mana cost however was very large, at 300 MP per activation. It was also a fairly dangerous skill as if he was caught off guard by a mental or soul attack, he was fucked, as his soul wouldn't be able to bear it outside of his body.

He sat there and observed his surroundings.

He wasn't able to see anything. Although he was now feeling like a god, he was not able to see the so-called mana flow patterns. All he saw were very detailed descriptions of the world around him as well as all sorts of elemental mana, but no signs of mana. He didn't even know what to look for...

"What the hell am I looking for? Are these mana flow patterns a real physical entity, or an abstract concept? How am I supposed to sense it when I don't know what to look for?!"

After trying for some time, he was gradually getting fed up, but he bore with it. This was a good way to train his diligence and mental capacity. Also, he had nothing to do until Hunter provided him with more information, which would most likely take a while, so he wasn't bothered.

So he sat there, trying to sense mana. He had now been sitting there for more than a few hours, continually using {Blood Regeneration} to maintain his mana levels before he gradually fell into a trance.

He was in a state that was higher than the zone. It wasn't something that could be described with just words. He felt like he was floating, but at the same time, sinking. He felt like he was in the clouds but at the same time bound by many chains. It was a strange feeling, but he was able to notice some things he couldn't before...

Like a faint summer breeze, yet with the same intensity as a winter's gale, he felt something. He was hit with a tinge of surprise, but he managed to hold onto the feeling before it could disappear.

In that instant, it was like he could see it and feel it. A strange ethereal force. He could feel its effects, and yet he could touch it. Using the power of the {Eye of Clairvoyance}, he was able to see it. Like a sea of colorful lights floating in a dark void. Like the first blooms of summer against a monochrome background, he saw it.

It was a beautiful sight. Like the works created from the paintbrush of a mad artist, it was a blend of various lights all mixed to form a substance that had no color of its own, yet contained all the colors in the spectrum of light.

This was it.

These were the mana flow patterns he was looking for!

He had sensed it after hours of hardship and diligence. As the {Eye of Clairvoyance} literally allowed his soul to escape from his body and spread all around like a net so that he would be able to sense his surroundings, it also made it easier for his soul to come in contact with the spiritual realm. The physical and spiritual realms were like two sides of the same coin.

For everything existing in the physical realm, there was a corresponding set of data in the form of clumps or clusters of mana, that would react together to produce the resulting phenomena in the physical plane of existence.

And Cain could see it all. The interaction between the physical and spiritual. Mana was flowing from one plane to the other, like an infinity loop. There was no real way to explain what he was looking at. It was like looking through shattered glass.

Cain was baffled, yet very excited that he had succeeded. He could now sense the ethereal energy known as mana.

All that remained was to find a way to brush against it.

From what he had read, his soul would have to serve as an anchor that would link the two planes together, allowing for the mana within both of them to interact with each other, while at the same time, he would have to draw out the runes according to the set of arcane alphabets, giving the mana a set of instructions it was supposed to follow.

That was the basis of runecraft, spellcraft, and skill creation. Sense the mana flow patterns, create an anchor using the soul, gain control over it, and manipulate it according to your will, using the craft of rune drawing as the code.

In the future, Cain would learn that this was the only way he would be able to create more advanced skills as well as spells, as the rarity of good skills would increase over time and only the truly powerful would have the privilege to survive and rule over the planet.

But Cain was determined.

Armed with the new ability to sense mana flow patterns he had just acquired, it would give him an edge in future battles, as well as the ability to vastly Increase his pool of abilities. He was going to find the supreme path to the top one way or the other, even if he had to sit on the cold hard floor with his butt aching. He would do it, even if it killed him in the process.

If anyone was present at this point, what they saw would send them plunging into the coldest of depths, as a ghastly white light was being emitted from Cain's white eyes, like the eerie fog that settle at dawn over the dreadful seas...