God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'The underworld...'

Cain had concluded earlier on that unless one had a sufficient amount of luck, the only way to survive the initial stages of the apocalypse, was by possessing the necessary skills. Anyone lacking both was as good as dead...

'If my theory is correct, then a lot of the denizens of the underworld should still be alive.'

The sticks and stones of the underworld were guns and knives. People who created and used these sticks and stones were no different from lunatics.

'Something that proves my theory quite well is this unique group of people. I'm sure Steve is a denizen of the underworld, as well as Hunter and Dan. The auras they give off are way too similar.'

'As for the fatty, he looks too shady to be a good person.' If Vincent could hear his thoughts, he would probably be wallowing in years at his unjustified accusations.

'Susan has a martial arts background, and Blaze has a military background, so both are understandable. I know David does his training every morning as well...'

Cain was certain that only those who had any idea what combat looked like would be able to survive. There were numerous martial arts studios and dojos that taught various schools of martial arts in city Z, but those who knew how to fight were only a very small minority.

Cain didn't know what sort of martial arts he practiced. He had searched various books and articles on ancient martial arts, but he had come up empty-handed. The only clue he had was that what he practiced seemed to be a compression of various schools' martial arts onto one.

It was an art that computed only the necessary parts and skipped all the unnecessary ones. He hadn't studied any forms or complex techniques. His teacher had only given him one modus operand,

"The art of killing should be narrowed down to only one thing, Efficiency. No fancy tricks, no elegant techniques that consume too much energy. Only swift and deadly execution..."

Cain had been told by his master that what he taught him couldn't be considered just martial arts. It would be better to define it as the art of killing. He didn't teach him any complex techniques, only the basics.

He had been forced to learn how to control the amount of power he used when he fought, so as not to outright kill his opponent. If he didn't, every bully he fought off in the past would probably be six feet under already.

He had no idea as to why his master had taught him all that, especially since in city Z, the capital punishment for murder was a fate not even the most violent criminals could endure.

'Just who is he, and what did he hope to achieve by giving me hope?'

Cain couldn't deny that on that rainy night, the smoldering embers of his heart had been lit aflame with the fires of hope. If he hadn't met his master, he never would have gotten the ability to make it this far.

He had been granted the ability to fight. To fight like his life depended on it.

Because it did...

'Whether I find you or not, I'm going to make you proud someday, Master.' The fires of hope within his heart burned brightly. Especially in a world that now possessed enough fuel. Due to his current circumstances, he finally had the perfect environment to properly practice the teaching of his master.

'i would love to practice right now, but now isn't the right time, nor is this the right place for such.'

Now that he was done with what he wanted to do, Cain walked back to the corner he was seated in previously and continued his preparations. He opened up his status screen and went straight to his inventory.

'Now that I've gotten rid of all my earth elemental mana shards, I only have 1 grade 6 spatial mana shard, with a majority of the rest being grade 9 with a few grade 8 and 7.'

Cain had used up all his blood and metal attribute mana shards, and had given Steve all his earth attribute mana shards, so he was left with only lightening, nature, wind, fire, darkness, and poison attribute mana shards.

'Although it seems like I have enough power right now, it still isn't enough. If I want to be able to fight with those devils on even ground, I need to up my game as fast as I can. The best way to do that is to greatly increase my attack power!'

Cain was determined to increase his power as fast as he could. With the information he had just gotten from the system, he knew that personal power was extremely important in this potentially dangerous world.

'1 spatial, 4 darkness, 19 nature, 41 wind, 20 fire, 11 lightning, and 22 poison. That's all I have left. And most of them are grade 9 mana shards.'

The reason mana shards were separated into grades was simply due to the concentration and amount of elemental mana they contained. A grade 8 mana shard contained the same amount of energy within it as 5 grade 9 mana shards. A grade 7 was equivalent to 5 grade 8 mana shards, and so on...

'If I want them to make a difference, I will have to consume a lot more of each mana shard.

Unfortunately, there is no way for me to get more right now, except I go outside.' The reason why Cain was able to upgrade his {Metal Creation} skill and transform his {Blood Ingestion Regeneration} to {Blood Regeneration} was that they were both already existing skills, and only required that extra bit of push to achieve an upgrade.

Regardless, he still had to consume a lot of them.

'How the hell am I going to get more mana shards without wiping out thousands more mutant beasts.' Although Cain was just thinking inwardly, the system chose the most opportune time to chime in.

{Replying to host: The host can purchase mana shards amongst various things in the system store...}

'Hmmm? Last time I checked, the system didn't have this option in it.'

{Replying to host: As the host evolves in both spirit and body, the system constantly updates its data, providing the essential utilities the host needs then}.

'Oh? I thought the system store was just useless. Charging exorbitant prices for information, crappy equipment, and potions.' Cain said out of spite.

{Replying to host: The system will only provide essential utilities needed by the host then, not what the host wants}.

'So are you saying because I need the mana shards, it's up for sale?'

{Replying to host: Affirmative...}

'That's freaking capitalism!' Cain said in outrage.

{Replying to host: "..." }

'Damn! What a shameless system.' Cain clicked his tongue in annoyance.

'Fine. Let's see what the system store has to offer. If the prices are too high, I'm not buying!' This time, Cain wasn't going to budge.

Cain quickly navigated the status screen to the system store and opened it up.

In the previous desert store, he saw a ton of options displayed to him.

***

ELEMENTAL

Grade 9 mana shard– 500 system points.

Grade 8 mana shard – 5000 system points.

Grade 7 mana shard – 22,500 system points.

Grade 6 mana shard – 47,500 system points.

Grade 5 mana shard – 72,550 system points.

Grade 4 mana shard – 95,000 system points.

Grade 3 mana shard – 112,500 system points.

Grade 2 mana shard – 200,000 system points.

Grade 1 mana shard – 410,250 system points.

Cain stared at the prices for a while without blinking...

'They seem fair? Four hundred thousand system points does seem a bit over the top." In reality, Cain had no idea how to gauge their prices. For all he knew, this was one huge ripoff.

'From what I know, Grade 9 mana shards are from Normal creatures, Grade 8 are from Elites, Grade 7 Special, Grade 6 Deadly, Grade 5 to 2 for legendary, and Tier 1 for Celestial.

The {Crimson Demon Bear} was a Special tier beast, so it had a grade 7 blood elemental mana shard, and the {Devil-eyed White Primate} was a Deadly tier beast, so it had a grade 6 spatial attribute mana shard.'

Although Cain consumed a lot of systems points daily thanks to the system's greediness, he still had a lot to spare today, courtesy of the rewards he got from attaining the {Dragon Gate Ki plundering technique}.

Cain realized he was going to need a lot more information on how he was going to do anything...

'System, are there any limitations to the attribute of mana shards I can use?'

{Replying to host: Although the host can theoretically use all types of mana shards, it wouldn't be a wise decision to do so}.

'Why is that?'

{Replying to host: Most humans aren't very attuned to mana and the elements. As such they have to find the elements they are more attuned to in order not to waste their time and resources. Unless the host has a skill or technique that can break this limitation, this is a universal law}.

'Well, what is the natural limit of most humans?'

{Replying to host: For 99% of humans, this number is one. For the remaining 1%, this number greatly varies. Only possessing at least 30% affinity for an element can be considered valid.

The highest number ever recorded in the history of a human is 7 elements, but that was under extremely unusual conditions. Even then, that human was unable to attain mastery over any of them}.

'Hmmm...' Cain was certain all this information was costing him a lot of system points, but he still let his curiosity get the better of him.

'Who was that person?'

{Replying to host: The host currently doesn't have enough system points to acquire this piece of information}.

'Is there any way for me to check which elements I have attunement for?' Cain asked curiously.

{Replying to host: Yes... For a small fee of 1,000 system points, the system will be able to calibrate exactly which elements the host is most attuned with alongside their percentages}.

'Alright. Let's do it!' Cain said excitedly.

{Replying to host: Processing Request...}

{Request Granted...}

{1,000 system points deducted...}

{Purchase successful}.

Cain stared in suspense as a portion of his status screen turned blank and began to fill itself out with complex runic symbols and patterns. As this happened, he could a jolt of energy run through his entire body.

{Process Completed. Computing results...}

The incomprehensible texts on the blank page began to turn into readable words and symbols.

Name: Cain Lenosi.

Fire attribute: 100%.

Lightening attribute: 100%.

Metal attribute: 100%.

Earth attribute: 0%.

Wind attribute: 100%.

Spatial attribute: 100%.

Darkness attribute: 90%.

Nature attribute: 0%.

Blood attribute: 100%.

Water attribute: 70%.

Poison attribute: 100%.

Light attribute: 0%.

Time attribute: Invalid...

Cain stared at the stream of information with confusion.

'System, are these stats good or bad?'

For the first time since Cain had come in contact with the system, he didn't receive a response to his question.

'System?'

{Replying to host: The system is taking some time to process your results. Please wait a moment...}

Cain was a bit shocked by this reply, 'Could it be my results are so awesome, they broke the system?'

Cain could recall that the system had told him that the highest number of elemental affinities possessed by a single human in all the universe was 7. And the benchmark for the level of attunement to be considered an affinity was 30%.

So if his eyes weren't failing him, the number of affinities he possessed was higher.

A chime sound suddenly rang out in his mind...

{Congratulations to the host... You have unlocked a universal achievement. You possess an elemental affinity for 9 elements, and a perfect elemental affinity for 7}.

{+100,000 system points}.

{+100 points to all stats...}

{Level up!} ×6

{You have acquired the special grade skill, Elemental Body}.

{Elemental Body} lvl 1: Consume the essence of the elements you possess more efficiently. Accumulating enough elemental energy will instantly create spells related to the elements you possess.

Requirements to level up: Acquire five spells...

Note: This skill is a special skill, and is not recognized as an internal skill.

{You have acquired the title, Blessed by Mana...}

{Blessed by Mana}: +10 to Magic stat. Passively recover 10MP per second.

Cain stared blankly at the details before him, before he broke into a very wide grin.

"Well, damn!"