God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The giant figure of Teddy could be seen dashing through the shrubbery. The lightless night served to emphasize his peculiar glow as he traveled like a bolt of crimson lightning...

Beside him, Cain ran at his cruising speed, hoping to make it back quickly. He had recovered his health with some potions, as well as his stamina with the blood of a few mutant beasts using his {Blood Ingestion Regeneration} skill.

{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.

Well, more than a few...

The average mutant beast Cain had encountered contained at most 5 liters of blood, but a lot of that was stored within the flesh of the beast. He didn't have the time or energy to cook the meat to eat, and he was disgusted by the idea of eating it raw.

He also wasn't in the right state to hunt stronger or bigger animals.

He had noticed that the stronger the mutant he defeated, the less of its blood he would need to consume for his recovery. It was as though the stronger the creature, the more quality its blood had.

So he decided to save his HP and MP potions and use the blood of the mutant beasts he had killed along the way to recover lost energy...

A small creature the size of a fully grown dog dashed out of a nearby bush towards the running bear and human.

{Mutant Demon Rabbit} level 12: (normal).

Strength: 70.

Agility: 90.

Defense: 10.

Mana: 20.

HP: 1,200/1,200.

MP: 200/200.

Skills: Hop, Double jump, Lacerate.

The thing was fast, but not fast enough...

SLICE!

A brief flash of light later, and a headless corpse tumbled in the air, blood spraying from its severed neck like a fountain.

Cain held onto its neck, then steadied his mind as he tilted his head backward whilst treating the body of the dead {Mutant Demon Rabbit} like a bottle of soda.

'Sweet...'

The blood of the mutant creatures had a sweet refreshing taste to it when the toxic properties were removed by his {Blood Ingestion Regeneration} skill.

Previously, before he had gotten the skill, the toxic properties of God Ash that were bad for humans caused severe side effects when he had just taken a drop of mutant beast blood. But now, he could safely do so and even gain some benefits...

Even if he didn't have this skill, with the aid of his new skill, {Mana Heart}, he would easily be able to use the blood...

'As for the meat...'

"Catch, big guy."

Cain tossed the dead piece of meat straight at Teddy who was also running beside him at full speed with its tongue peeking from the side of its bloody maws as a dog would.

"Ragh!"

The beast opened its mouth wide, catching the huge rabbit with its terrifying fangs.

"Crack... munch..."

Sounds of bones being broken and flesh being torn apart made no difference to the already ominous atmosphere...

Midnight had passed, and the God Ash has stopped falling, but Cain was able to see the changes it brought about.

The monsters within the forest behaved way more aggressively than they had been during the day. The air and ground seemed moist, but there had been no rain. The trees and bushes all seemed to grow by the minute.

'Talk about creepy... This is definitely because of this god ash.' Cain thought to himself as a frown quickly began to twist his features.

A lot had happened within the span of a few days, and he was still processing it all.

'There are so many things happening at once. I have to take it in one at a time, or I'll become overwhelmed quickly.'

One of Cain's greatest traits was his ability to learn and adapt quickly, whilst thinking at high speeds. This was why he was able to adapt so quickly when God Ash first rained upon their world and he and his classmates were attacked.

'The most important things I should dwell on right now, are any information on God Ash I can get my hands on, as well as skills.'

He quickly calmed down, increasing his speed as he bolted through the forest.

Since there was no path marking the way back, Cain made use of his eidetic memory to create a very accurate map of the route he had used when he got into the forest. In a few minutes, he arrived at the building.

"Teddy, you wait nearby. I'll signal for you when I need you."

"Ragh."

Cain had Teddy wait in the surroundings, while he went into the building. He did this because he didn't want to spook the others, and the big, fat bear probably wouldn't be able to fit into the front door anyways.

He made little to no sound as he dashed through the courtyard with nimble feet. He gazed at the huge building that contained no illumination at all, sitting there in the darkness like a ghost building.

It was extremely quiet due to the lack of life within, and the atmosphere surrounding it stank of abandonment and despair.

'Just a few days in, and a lot have lost their lives. Makes me wonder what will become of me in the future.' Due to recent events, Cain's outlook on life changed drastically. He was no longer as arrogant as before. He was able to see that he was just as capable of dying as everyone else.

He might be special, but not to the point that death would grant him a get-out-of-jail-free card anytime he got too close to the edge of its abyss...

He was limited by the same set of rules that everyone else had to follow. Although he was dissatisfied, that was just the reality of things. The only way he could beat it was to become strong.

So strong, that the laws that applied to everyone else would become null and void when the wheels were spun at him.

***

Sighting his intended destination, he put his strength, as well as a bit of mana into his legs. Due to his most recent gains, his magic stat had gone through the roofs, doubling in quantity. This caused his control of mana to be double that of what it usually was.

He decided to experiment a bit...

'From what I have been told, some skills can be formed when an action or series of actions are linked together and influenced by mana. Coupled with a bit of luck as well as a generous amount of ability, a skill can be birthed.'

He thought back to all the skills he had gotten as a result of self-creation.

{Lightening Edge}, {Burst Step}, and so on...

All these skills were acquired only when he had paired an action with his control of mana.

'As for skills like {Mana Blade}, {Golden Severance}, and {Azure Burst}, they were gotten when I was pushed to the edge, my back facing the abyss. I guess the only way to get skills like this, is to challenge death.'

'If that's the case, then...'

BANG!

The ground beneath him rumbled as he flew upwards like a missile, reaching the height of the 3rd floor in less than a second. He grabbed onto the window sill, and with a slight twist of his wrist, he threw his body through the open window.

With a flip, he landed with a stride. He was only able to perform something like this with the help of his high control stat. If he didn't have such a high control stat, regardless of how much strength or agility he had, he wouldn't have been able to perform it with so much finesse...

However, his experiment ended up as a failure...

He waited for the system prompt indicating that he had created a new skill but wasn't surprised or disappointed when it didn't come.

'I expected that much. There is no way it can be that easy.'

'Well, it isn't a complete failure...'

Cain had realized through this attempt, that there are a variety of ways to use mana.

Due to his recent increase in magic, he was able to sense the mana within him as well as in his surroundings more clearly.

His earlier conception of mana was a bit flawed...

For mana to be expelled from the body, it had to make contact with a source of external mana.

For example, when he activated his {Golden Severance} skill, he relied on his internal mana to shape the skill as well as give form to the skill, while the metal elemental mama within the surroundings reacted to it, forming up the entirety of the skill.

Not only could this theory be applied to create skills, but it could also be applied to basic actions such as walking, jumping, and so on.

And what just happened served to prove his theory. Mana could be utilized in any way imaginable as long as you had sufficient magic power and imagination. It was governed by a few laws and standards of application, but once those were figured out, the possibilities were limitless.

'This calls for more experimentation. But this is not the time.'

Cain glanced at the wall clock, only to find out that it was already past midnight. He remembered that they had all agreed to meet in the downstairs hall by midnight.

He was late...

'Let's see what the others are up to then.'

Since his experiments didn't require too much urgency, he decided to go ahead downstairs to rendevous with the others...

They dashed down the stairs and arrived before the hallways. He could make out a few words from the other side of the door.

"Sure. I have no qualms fighting you. Bring it on!"

"Fine by me... Ha!!!"

'Hmmm? It seems like a lot has happened in my absence...'

The sound waves of their explosive clash spread outside the hall, indicating to Cain that a very interesting show had just begun.

Like a ghost, he quietly opened the doors and with the stealth of a chameleon, he snuck into the hall undetected...