God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Because the blade had embedded itself into the ground, it was going to be many times harder for him to pick it up. Not only was it very heavy, but it was also now stuck inside the ground.

'A sword in a stone... how ironic.' Cain inwardly felt the urge to kick at the wall behind him, but he controlled his emotions.

'Ha...'

He took a deep breath, before looking around. Luckily for him, he hadn't made a ruckus, so he didn't attract any attention. Once he noticed that no one was looking, he made his move...

Only about half of the blade's length had disappeared into the ground, so there was still enough of the blade's length jutting out for him to comfortably grasp onto.

He took his left leg back by two steps, keeping his right forward, close to the place the blade had embedded itself. He then shifted all his weight onto his right foot and grabbed onto the hilt, tugging on it with all his might...

His muscles pulled taut as he pulled and pulled...

Veins burst from his forehead and arms, squiggling around like worms under the huge amount of tension he was putting them through. He let out a silent grunt, careful not to let his voice be heard.

'Damn! So heavy!' Cain cursed as he pulled with all his strength. Slowly, the blade inched farther and farther away from the ground. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he tried his best to drag the sword out.

At this moment, it could be said that his body was under immense strain and pressure...

After close to a minute of struggle, suddenly, he received a notification from the system...

{+1 point to Ki}.

He paused what he was doing for a while, before exclaiming in surprise. He released his grip, allowing the blade to go back to its original position. However, he wasn't even concerned about losing all his progress...

"How could I forget?! I can use this as a means of training and acquiring ki!"

With that thought in mind, Cain didn't even care about the stress and pain in his muscles. He pulled once again...

The blade was being slowly dragged out of the ground, which meant he was making progress, but Cain noticed he was losing stamina just as rapidly...

'If I activate {Golden Blood} I will be able to do this very quickly. However, I won't be able to gain more ki. I will also lose my stamina even more rapidly, which will just lead me back to square one.' Cain contemplated as he kept on pulling.

With the rate at which he was pulling, he would be out of stamina before he was able to pull the sword from the ground.

Hence, he stopped...

The moment he let go, the blade quickly sunk back into the ground, this time, deeper than it had gone before.

'Shit!' Cain frowned when he saw this...

He quickly sat back on the ground while thinking of a way to solve this problem.

'It would be way too embarrassing if someone found out that I dropped my sword and can't get it out of the ground. I need to think of a way to either increase my strength or increase my stamina regeneration.'

Suddenly, Cain's mind went back to his skills...

'Maybe I can use {Blood Ingestion Regeneration}?' The instant the thought went through his mind, he acted upon it.

{Blood Ingestion Regeneration} (passive): Grants the ability to safely ingest the blood of mutant beasts without any adverse effects. Consuming the blood and flesh of mutant beasts grants passive Stamina, Vitality, and Mana regeneration.

For every 0.1 liters of blood, or 100 grams of flesh consumed, 100HP, 50MP, and 1 stamina point are regenerated.

He quickly brought all his canteens full of the mutant beast's blood, as well as the mutant beast's flesh he had gathered out of his inventory. He took one look at the raw mutant beast flesh, before putting it back into his inventory.

'No way in hell am I eating raw meat. The blood is one thing, but I am not that much of a savage...'

Although the skill mentioned that both the flesh and blood of the mutant beasts were safe to eat, Cain just couldn't bring himself to eat raw flesh.

The smell of the blood and flesh of the mutant beast was very appealing, which was why against his rationale, he had decided to have a taste of the mutant beast's blood the first time. This had resulted in his severe stomach pains, but that didn't change the fact that the blood tasted very delicious.

This was why he had no qualms about drinking the blood.

However, there was a certain line he didn't want to cross, and that was cooking his meat before eating it. There were several things he couldn't let be profaned, and one of those things was food...

He couldn't cook the beast's blood, which was why he decided to just keep drinking it like that since he could. But if he had the option of cooking his meals before eating them as opposed to the other choice, he would rather choose the former rather than the latter...

He placed all the canteens of blood out in front of him, before unscrewing all of them open...

Almost instantly, the sweet enticing aroma of the blood escaped from their containers.

He had found out that different from regular blood, beast blood could be stored normally for a longer period than the normal animal blood that had not been purified by mana and still retains its quality without having any problems.

Cain inhaled deeply, 'Using {Blood Ingestion Regeneration} the normal way isn't going to cut it... I need to upgrade the skill}.

'Mana shards...' Cain came to a decision swiftly...

He quickly retrieved all the {Blood Elemental} mana shards he had within his inventory. He had about 30 of these mana shards, 20 he had gotten the previous night, and the remaining 10 he had managed to gather on the day of the apocalypse and the day after...

He didn't know what to expect, but it was anything like when he used the metal attribute mana shards, he was bound to see some results.

He took one of them into his palm and applied the necessary force...

BANG!

The gem shattered on impact, and a message from the system instantly revealed itself.

{Your control over blood elemental energy has increased...}

Once he saw this, he instinctively felt he was going in the right direction...

***

In the blink of an eye, Cain realized that he had used up all but one of the blood attribute mana shards in his possession. And the results he had to show?

Nothing...

Nothing to show. He hadn't received any system notifications, nor could he sense any difference within his body.

Cain stared at the last mana shard in his palm with total focus.

Within his mind, he kept recalling the numerous ways the system had told him by which he could create skills.

'In this case, I don't want to create a skill. Rather, I want to modify a preexisting skill that is not an internal skill into a higher form...'

There were generally two types of skills. Internal, and external skills. Internal skills could be upgraded to the next level, hence possessing a lot of potential. However, external skills didn't have this ability.

Hence they were at the height of their potential as soon as they were acquired.

His {Blood Ingestion Regeneration} skill was one of his external active skills. According to the system, it was impossible to upgrade an external skill. However, he thought otherwise.

'Skill creation is not as rigid as this system makes it out to be. I have created new skills out of preexisting skills more than once, so it definitely shouldn't be just as the system says it is. There must be some sort of hidden loophole...'

Cain pondered hard, his gaze never leaving the mana shard in his hands...

Suddenly, it hit him like a bullet train...

'What if I'm the one who's got it all wrong?'

Cain thought back to all the skills he had acquired. {Burst Step} was created because he had figured out that mana could be controlled. {Lightening Edge} and {Mana Blade} was created because he had figured out that mana could be manipulated.

{Metal Creation} and {Metal Manipulation} was created because he realized that skills could be stolen, {Azure Burst} and {Mana Heart} was created because he realized just how mysterious and powerful this foreign source of energy is, while {Seal} was created because he realized just how much of an effect exerting control over mana could have.

During this moment of enlightenment, he gathered the pieces of the puzzle. The picture before him instantly became many times clearer.

'The energy stored within the mana shards as well as in the environment as ki, mana, elemental mana, or even god ash, only act as the catalyst to create a skill. The real driving force behind the creation of a skill... is me.'

His eyes became filled with clarity at once...

He stretched his hand out and concentrated.

'To acquire a skill that I need, I need to create it by myself!'