God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Warmth...

Cain felt a warmth flow through his body as he was embraced by the darkness he had created. The igloo was covered in a light runic pattern created naturally by his {Metal Creation skill}. They provided a little bit of illumination, in the dark construct. There was a slight heat within the igloo, creating a comfortable environment that was best for relaxation.

Cain lay down, nearly motionless within the igloo, his body, and mind in a state of semi-relaxation...

All the exhaustion of the past few weeks since the start of the apocalypse had worn on him heavily. His body and mind were exhausted, so he deserved a lot of rest to get back to his full power.

Although he had been supplementing with mutant beast blood and HP potions, the fact that he also hadn't eaten a meal for weeks had also shown some effects. Although Mana and Ki were amazing, they didn't halt natural processes completely. They only slowed them down...

"So hungry..."

Cain's eyes snapped open as he woke up from his long slumber.

BOOM!

The earth above the Igloo was broken up, and the golden exterior of the igloo was scattered into numerous light motes. Even though Cain was already so powerful, the level of his {Metal Creation} skill was still too low...

At just level two, the skill had severe limitations that were extremely obvious, one being that his metallic constructs were too rigid, and wouldn't last forever. That was why he utilized the skill by applying it complementarily to other skills.

For example, he used the skill to create {Golden Severance} and {Golden Halo} two powerful offense and defense skills that related to the basic principles of metal to function.

{Golden Severance} made use of metal's tendency to cut other materials, while {Golden Halo} made use of metal's defensive properties to shield attacks.

Both were incredibly powerful thanks to the intelligent application of his {Metal Creation} and {Metal Manipulation}. However, he still needed to improve his skill. If he increased the power of {Metal Creation} it would boost the power of his other related skills...

Grrhhh!!!

"Ha... I'm too hungry to be worrying over such things..."

Cain had a displeased expression on his face as his stomach rumbled for the thousandth time. The reason he was so hungry was simple...

While mana couldn't halt natural order completely, it could bend the rules accordingly. Because of how strong Cain and the others were, eating wasn't something they had to do frequently. This was because all the energy in their body would be converted by the mana at a zero percent rate.

Meaning they would be able to harness all the energy they consume completely. What this meant, however, was that once their tank was empty, it was empty...

They would need to refill to the brim if they wanted to be relieved from perpetual hunger. Hunger was a result of this. Their body was simply asking for energy...

"The body still needs energy from food. This means there are a lot of things that need to be changed." Can't speak to himself as he contemplated changing a few details of his plans...

Cain stared at his surroundings for the last time...

The huge corpse of the {Flame Devil} still sat at the groove in the ground, alongside a copious amount of rubble. Cain opened his inventory and gazed at all the items he had collected. His two weapons, White and Black, sat there motionless, awaiting the call of their master, while the strange devil blade he had extracted from Forza's gigantic weapon.

A lot of mana shards, scrap metal, and water canteens he now used to store mutant beast blood were also present. The [Record of Akasha] was also present, together with the makeshift rune inscribing instruments he had created.

Cain summoned his weapons and strapped them to his sides. Kicking against the ground, he dashed into the forest that had magically reappeared.

"Tree sprouts? How long was I asleep for?"

As Cain ran through the scanty foliage that had begun to grow and was shocked to see that the once bare forest was becoming fruitful once again...

'Mana can be the cause of prosperity or destruction...'

Mana had caused the life on the planet to mutate, making them more dangerous to mankind. It had also attracted devils, increasing the dangers by multiple folds. However, it also opened a new door. A door that would lead to a strange future filled with death, blood, adventure, and growth...

Cain stared at the trees and plant life all around him with glassy eyes, his mind lost in his thoughts. He was someone who liked to read a lot of books in his free time.

Since there was a library within the school that was rarely frequented by people, he was able to pursue his hobby at his own pace. Although the world had changed greatly after a thousand years, numerous things couldn't be erased even after all that time...

Within the archives of the library, he was able to learn a lot of things. Things about the past civilization, about how they lived, about all the knowledge they collected and stored that was the foundation of the world he lived in today.

"Sadly, history is doomed to repeat itself..."

He had read in a book that throughout history, there had always been events that threatened to wipe mankind to extinction.

A flood, a war, an earthquake, a plague, and now, an invasion of a powerful extraterrestrial race, as well as the deadly mutation of the other inhabitants of the planet...

'Will we be able to survive this?' Cain was unsure of the future, but that didn't bother him too much, as all his life, he had been unsure about many things.

His whole life had been once a very very deep cesspool of uncertainty...

His entire life, he grew up without any knowledge of who he was, or where he came from. All he knew was that he had been in the foster care system, and was miraculously, or unfortunately adopted by his foster parent.

He had grown up fostered by insecurities. Although he was always well-fed, he never knew when the next beating was going to come. He didn't know from whom the next beating was going to come. To him, he didn't have a future worth looking forward to.

But despite all that, he pushed through without giving it much thought...

When it was time to fight back, he would do so with all his might, and when it was time to be still and silent, he would retreat into the darkness. That was the only way he knew how to live...

But right now, the only thing he could do in his circumstances was fight...

Fight like his life depended on it because it did...

Dashing through the forest, Cain headed toward the cliff where Hunter was on the lookout.

Suddenly, he stopped when something caught his eye. Not too far in the distance, he caught sight of Susan in a distant part of the still growing scarcely populated forest.

With the power of his devil eyes, Cain noticed every single minute detail of Susan once he focused on her. Her porcelain white skin and Auburn hair borough color to the grey world, causing Cain to completely forget his previous thoughts and instead focus on her.

She stood, her magical bow drawn into a full moon. An arrow of light gradually formed at the tip, before tracing its way back to the bow string.

Her beautiful lashes quivered as she sucked a breath before firing. She took a pose that appeared as natural as breathing...

THANG!

The sound of the air parting filled up the forest as the arrow of light flew true toward the bullseye. The air around the around began to heat up and burn, leaving a trail of sparks and smoke. The arrow was so fast, it looked like a beam of light. One second it was still on the bowstring, the next, it was already before the bullseye.

However, at this moment, Susan displayed the immaculate control she had over her mana, as before the arrow could strike the flimsy wooden bullseye, it burst into a rain of light specks, dissipating into the air without harming the bullseye itself.

She let the breath she had been holding out as she relaxed her pose.

Turning around, she noticed Cain staring at her absentmindedly. She jumped a little, extremely surprised, as she didn't expect to see him there.

"C-cain? What are you doing here?! Aren't you supposed to be preparing? Where have you been all this while?!" said Susan in a hurry, trying to mask her panic.

"Just watching... No need to mind me."

"I have every need to mind you! You are distracting me!"

"Really? I fail to see how me watching you from there is enough to distract you."

If there was anyone Cain didn't have a bias toward, it would be his former class monitor, Susan. He had known her the longest and knew she could be trusted.

"It is distracting... Y-you are too close..." Susan said with a slight blush. Any normal person would have figured it out by now, but unfortunately, Cain was as dumb as rocks when it came to issues of the heart.

"Oh, sorry..." Taking a few steps away from Susan, Cain pointed to the ground and asked,

"Is this better?"

Susan went silent for a while before letting out an awkward laugh. She placed her bow into her inventory, then walked up to Cain.

"So what brings you here? Is it time to move already?" Susan asked.

"Not quite... I think we should wait and see what we can get out of this place before we leave..." Cain said.

Susan fell silent for a while before speaking up,

"Well, there is nothing valuable left here. I think it's high time we left..."

Cain narrowed his eyes when he heard Susan's words...

Seeing Cain's reaction, Susan quickly explained further,

"All the magical herbs have been collected by us. This includes all the herbs we will be needing to make the HP and MP regen potions, as well as a few we know nothing about. Concerning the issues of eating, we can only keep as much mutant beast meat as we can and hope we can gather more on the next Island..."

Cain thought about it for a while before his mind suddenly stopped for a few seconds...

'Hold up... I feel like I'm forgetting something...'

"Ruby... Where is she?!" Cain's eyes widened as he realized he had once again forgotten all about his beloved furry mount.

"Ruby? She's helping Old Man Ling and the others gather the rest of the herbs, as well as the mutant beast remains they've been hunting down."

A small smile appeared on Cain's face as he pictured such a scene in his mind...

"What have you been up to?" Cain asked Susan.

"Eh? Me?!" Susan asked in surprise.

"Yes... You don't seem too busy."

Susan's eyes dangerously narrowed down as she stared at Cain with a desire to bite, causing chills to be sent up his spine.

"Ehem! I mean, you don't seem very busy right now!" Cain hurriedly rephrased.

"Hmph! I was gathering some of the rare herbs I could find..."

Cain looked around him and found a small bag that he noticed was oozing a thick medicinal scent.

"All the herbs on this Island are just basic-level magical herbs that serve primary uses. While some are a bit rarer, they will become useless quickly if we take the speed at which we are gaining power into consideration... All the more reason for us to leave this Island as soon as possible." Susan said with scrunched brows.

"In that case, let's get going..." Cain had a smile on his face as he grabbed Susan by the hand, causing her face to turn red violently.

'Here goes nothing...'