God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Silence...

A chilling one at that...

It took a while for Hunter to regain his bearings.

"Could... could you repeat that?"

Cain shook his head, "It's not a joke. Most likely than not, we'll have to sail through an ocean of Dead Spots. Or, perhaps a rather massive one, if we want to reach the City."

A look of rage surfaced on Hunter's face,

"Fuck! Freaking bullshit!"

Cain gave him a few moments to calm down before continuing,

"Right now, we'll have to slow the ship down, but that's only delaying the inevitable."

Hunter gritted his teeth, "Both you and I know that what you just suggested is nothing more than suicide. Not only that, but we will also be draggimg all these people down to the grave with us."

Cain fell silent.

He had considered this as well. If they failed, then the burden of all the lives lost in the process would fall upon their heads.

Cain faced him, his gaze unwavering, "We won't let that happen."

Hunter grabbed his head in his hands,

"This... this is madness."

'Looks like he's been through more than I can tell.'

Just one look at Hunter and one would be able to tell he wasn't in his right state of mind. However, having to deal with the horrors that lay within these Dead Spots could break a man's soul.

This could only be expected...

What they had fought through and lived through for the entirety of their voyage was something most people would pray to die through.

One good thing that had happened through all this was that their bonds seemed to have deepened...

"I'll need some time to process all this." Hunter said after an extended period of silence.

Cain nodded, "Sure thing. You should get something to eat... and some rest. You're going to need it."

Hunter stood up, his face as dark as all hell,

"We all are."

Cain could only let out a heavy breath of air.

Hunter walked out of the room, then closed the door behind, leaving Cain to his thoughts for a while...

Just then, a knock could be heard at the door.

Cain answered absentmindedly,

"Come in."

In walked in two beautiful personas. One with a holy and strict presence, whole the other with an endearing, but sharp demeanor.

Both were beautiful in their own right, yet their beauty was not the most notable parts of them to Cain.

Cain smiled warmly,

"What's up?" He addressed both Susan and Jenny.

In his mind, he thought, 'They usually don't come to see me often.'

Over the past month, he had probably seen them both about five times or less. And when they did meet, apart from some exchange of information, not much was said.

This time though, judging from what Hunter had just told him, it didn't seem like they had anything particularly important to share.

Susan was the first to speak, her face a bit impassive,

"I'm currently Level 108. Getting to Level 110 will require quite a lot of exp."

Cain became interested, "I see... Then you're saying... you want to go hunt on your own?"

Susan nodded softly. Cain frowned,

"That will be too dangerous. Besides, the only way to raise your level quickly would be to find some sort of breeding ground for Tier 1 creatures. That would be no different from suicide."

Cain was currently Level 106, two Levels below Susan, which was quite embarrassing now that he thought about it. However, this wasn't all his fault. Dealing with all the crap he was facing, it was only normal for him to lay behind a bit. Even then, he had not considered going on a killing spree.

Hearing something like this from Manny's mouth wouldn't have been surprising, but this was Susan, someone who's abilities weren't particularly geared towards combat.

Jenny raised a brow and turned to her,

"Are you serious? This isn't something to joke about."

Susan nodded again, this time, her face very serious,

"I've thought about it well. Besides, I'm not going alone."

Cain hummed, "With the way things are, we really can't spare any manpower. Can you wait for a bit?"

Susan had a frustrated look on her face,

"Do I really have to spell it out?!"

Without any warning, she shoved her index finger at Cain's face,

"You..."

"Me?" Cain raised his hands.

Susan's eyes were narrowed, "You also need to raid your level. Over the past month or so, you haven't hunted much. While you might enjoy creating weapons and studying magic, you should never forget what is truly important."

What she said did make sense, at least from what Cain had heard so far. However, something was telling him there was something else... something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Jenny chimed in, her face filled with determination,

"I... I'll go as well."

Susan snorted, "Three's a crowd. There might not be enough EXP to go around."

"Huh?! What does that mean?" Jenny asked, a strange smile on her face.

Seeing the sparks about to start flying, Cain quickly attempted to diffuse the situation,

"Calm down, you two..."

Susan ignored him, "If you don't want to be overthrown on your own ship, you better listen to me. Even if you agree, I'll leave without you."

With that, she turned around and left with, her strides extremely graceful. What Cain failed to see was the slightest of smiles tugging at the corner of her lips.

Jenny turned to Cain, an apologetic smile on her face once Susan had left.

"She's just trying to get your to relax. It's obvious you've barely gotten any free time."

Cain shrugged, "That much is obvious. But I've been fighting for a long time. Perhaps it isn't bad to want a break once in a while.*

Although he said this, Cain recognized that the only way for him to maintain his dominance was by making sure he was powerful enough.

As long as he was an insurmountable wall, others would think twice before they thought of climbing over him.

Jenny fell silent. She gazed out the only window in the room. Cain stayed silent as well, his gaze drawn to her hearty frame.

He hesitated for a while,

"You can go rest. Hunter just stopped by. There won't be any need to go hunting for a while. We already have a sufficiently large enough cache of mana shards and mutant beast meat."

Jenny nodded softly.

Cain scratched his head, unsure of what to say...

"Say Cain..." Jenny said after a moment of silence.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Do you have a family?"

Cain thought about it. His real family jad probably been dead and gone for a long time now. Or perhaps they didn't even exist. He had no idea.

However, that wasn't the question she had asked...

"I do. I have a stepfather and stepbrother. But they might be dead already."

Jenny looked surprised, "Really?"

Cain nodded, a small smile on his lips, "What, do I look like I don't have any family?"

Jenny blushed embarrassedly, "No... that's not..."

Cain chuckled, "Just kidding. They might be family on paper, but I don't really care for them."

Jenny calmed down after a while, "Then why do you want to return back to the City?"

Cain stared at her a bit, his gaze strange. She noticed it,

"Is that something you don't want to share..."

"It's fine..." Cain waved his hand, his smile returning.

He thought about it for a while, "I guess you could say I have a mission."

Indeed, a mission...

To accomplish this mission, he would have to do a lot of things. Things that might be absolutely damning...

"What kind of mission?" Jenny asked curiously.

Cain grinned, "A mission to be the savior of the world, I guess."

Jenny rolled her eyes, "Have you become too stuck up in your role?"

Cain smiled wryly, "See? What was the point in even saying it? Now I'm embarrassed."

Jenny laughed. Cain laughed as well. Seeing the slightly gloomy air around her face away as her laughter died down had to be one of the secret joys of life.

Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, she smiled at Cain brightly,

"Well, you don't have to worry. I'll help you achieve your mission in every way I can."

Cain was a bit taken aback by her words. What did they mean, and what had she just implied by them?

Perhaps sensing the subtle change in the room's atmosphere, a slight blush appeared on her cheeks.

"I'll be off then."

She turned around swiftly and made her way out of the room, closing the door behind her as fast as possible.

Staring blanks for a few seconds, Cain lowered his head to his hands,

"What just happened?""

Rubbing his face fiercely, he made up his mind.

'I have to get this done as soon as possible.'

The sooner the {Spatial Gate} was completed, the sooner he would be able to move on to other things.

With that, he dove straight back into work...

Meanwhile, while everything seemed normal on the ship, a strange undercurrent was swiftly rising up...