God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"Who knew things weren't so simple? The spiritual and material planes? This is a lot to digest."

'According to the Records of Akasha, mana exists in different forms, but that isn't even the main issue.'

Cain's eyes narrowed into slits as he fell into deep contemplation, 'The devil in the bloody details, is that we have all been unaware that there are two freaking mirror dimensions existing at the same time as opposed to there being a single one.'

'If what I read is even a little bit accurate, then things are getting complicated fast!'

Cain found it hard to believe that there was actually another world, or for a lack of better words, dimension, that existed together with the physical world he could interact with.

'According to this tome, although mana exists in both realms of reality, it cannot be controlled through physical means. It can only be controlled from the spiritual world through the use of an anchor.

These anchors will manipulate the natural flow of mana within the spiritual realm, which will cause a corresponding of the mana in the physical plane. Truly marvelous!'

Cain's eyes sparkled with the impromptu gift of wisdom, 'And the reason why we humans and every other creature that exists can use mana is that we have a natural anchor, the Soul!'

Cain could only widen his eyes in awe...

'Now that I know that's how it works, this changes a whole lot of things. The nature of mana and the methods to control it, all lie in deciphering the secrets behind the use of arcane anchors.'

Cain's entire body shook with excitement as he came to this conclusion.

There's also the system...

According to the Records of Akasha, the system is one of the most common anchors in existence. If this was the case, then it was something he had to address at once.

'System, I need to know all there is to know about arcane anchors that I don't know already.'

{Replying to host: There isn't a lot more information available for the host on arcane anchors. The only piece of information the host is currently lacking is the nature of advanced arcane anchors.

Runes, such as the {Mark of Bestial Strength}, and magic equipment, such as the {Devil's Broken Claw} are all arcane anchors. Mana shards are arcane anchors as well, but they are a bit more complicated than just being arcane anchors...}

Cain waited for a few more seconds for the system to carry on, but even after waiting for ten seconds, he got no response.

'That's all?'

{Replying to host: The host currently possesses all basic information available on arcane anchors. To know more about this, the host will need to enter into the first tier, and pass level 50}.

'So I can't know any more for now? Why is that?'

{Replying to host: The system is an arcane anchor, but just like every arcane anchor, it follows a certain set of rules that cannot be broken. Although the system is more flexible than other anchors, this is a defining principle of anchors}.

{Mana is a very broad subject that the tiny mind of the host will not be able to fully grasp with the level of power the host currently possesses. If the wants to know more, then the only way for this to happen is for the host to become stronger}.

Although Cain felt a bit insulted by the unnecessary jab by the system, he wasn't bothered by it. Instead, the fires of competition burned fiercely within them.

He had always been a lover of books. So when such an enigmatic piece of literature that had never appeared in the history books of the planet presented itself to him, he welcomed it with a salivating mouth.

And with just two hours of reading, he had gotten so much information that he had no clue about beforehand.

Hence, he responded to the system with a wide grin playing at his lips, 'If that's the case, then I'll make you spit everything you know very soon!'

***

The darkness within the building wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either. Blaze and David had searched for a while, but they had yet to discover any other person at all...

"I think that should be it. There are no other survivors." Blaze said in a dry tone as he scanned the darkness of his surroundings with a keen eye.

"So there is no one left?! Damn it!" David said as he slammed his hand down hard into a nearby railing, causing it to deform due to the stress upon it.

"I think this should have been expected. We knew exactly what we were doing when we made that choice. If we had stayed back with the rest of them, we would have died as well." Blaze said in a bid to comfort David.

"We could also have convinced them. Nothing was stopping us from trying harder." David said dejectedly with a sigh.

"The past is in the past, there is nothing we can do about it now. Besides, I think if they had survived up until now, escaping from this place would be a lot harder." Blaze said with a stoic expression on his face.

Meanwhile, a few meters under the gymnasium building, a group of twenty people sat in a safe room. This room surprisingly had electricity, as a light bulb cast its dim illumination onto the morbid faces of the room's occupants.

Although none of them had obvious injuries at first glance, it was obvious to anyone who looked upon them that they were tired of living in their current conditions. Their eyes were listless, and their skins were all fifty shades of pale.

Within this group of hopeless individuals, a few of them seemed to stand out. These individuals had more rosy complexions, and stood on their feet, rather than the alternative.

And they numbered only four out of the group of twenty. Two males, and two females...

"Li, we can't stay here anymore!" One of the males said to the other, his eyes screaming with frustration. He was a bit bulkier than the other male he was addressing, and on his back, was a saber with a wide blade and golden symbols swimming across its surface.

He had very handsome features that were even more pronounced by his heroic gaze and broad shoulders. Although he had a manly build, he was just a 17-year-old boy.

The other dude was of the same age as him, but he looked a bit more normal. His eyes seemed to sparkle with intelligence, and despite not being as brawny as his friend, he still had a toned physique.

In his hands, he wore a set of light green gloves that seemed to emanate an aura that bent the space around them.

He was silent for a while before he turned to his side to face the man who had just addressed him.

"You are right. We've been here for 3 days already. I believe it's high time we made some movement. However, you know exactly how dangerous it is up there.

None of these people will be able to survive for even a second. Regardless of how strong we are, we only have enough power to protect ourselves right now." Li said in a light, airy voice.

"I know that, but if we-" Stan wanted to say something, but was cut short by Li.

Li looked deep into his eyes as he spoke, "Stan, we have only three options right now. The first option is asking for death by trying to escort so many people through that forest of death. The second will be to just abandon them here and leave. This is our safest option..."

"We can't do that!" Stan said in a yelling whisper.

With a roll of his eyes, Li continued, "But I know you won't even consider this, so that's why we have a third. Continuing as we have been for the past three days.

Although it is a bit more bothersome than either of the previous two, it still guarantees the lives of everyone here will be preserved unless something drastic happens."

Stan knew that Li was right, which caused him to be even more dejected.

"So if we want everyone to live, the best was us to just stay as we have been?"

"Yes. There is a fourth option of having someone come to rescue us, but that is extremely unlikely. For all we know, everyone out there is as good as dead. Especially with those explosions that happened not long ago."

"Li, Stan, time to go." One of the girls who looked like they still had life within them spoke to Li and Stan. She had a ferocious expression on her extraordinarily beautiful face that didn't seem to be able to stop frowning.

She was also as flat as an ironing board, In her hands, was a fiery red magic staff with a gem so shiny on top of it, it looked like she carried a burning star.

"Come on, Sue. Don't be such a pain..." Li looked at her and said in the most annoying tone he could muster.

"Huh?! Do you want a fight?!" Sue raised an eyebrow as she pointed her magic staff at him without any hesitation.

"Tsk... Look at you, always resorting to violence as soon as you have a bit of power. What happened to my cute little sister? Buhu..." Li said, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Die!" Sue said frostily, the gem on her staff began shining brighter.

"Ha... I find it hard to believe that you guys are siblings..." The other girl who still looked like she had life in her body said with a sigh.

"He started it, sister Jenny!" Sue said with a pout while pointing an accusatory finger at Li.

"I know, I know... " Jenny said with a smile as she stroked her head. She turned to Li with a tired expression, to which he responded with a silent shrug.

"Can't you guys just get along?"

"No!"

"Never!"

Jenny was a year older than Stan and Li and was the de facto leader of their small group of four. She had a pitch black sniper rifle with beautiful purple runes engraved unto its surface slung across her back. Unlike Sue, she had a devilishly sexy body that was capable of inciting lust in any man.

The curves of her body seemed to be capable of bringing out the demon within any man's heart, causing his to fall to sin instantaneously. But Stan and Li didn't look at her with any signs of lust in their gaze. Instead, there was only warmth and respect every time they looked at her.

However, despite having such a body, the expression she wore on her face could only be described as pure and valiant beauty, without any signs of immortality or imperfections.

"You guys never get along do you," Stan said while massaging his temple.

"Hmph! I'm not going to bother with this imbecile of a brother. Come on, sister Jenny." Sue said as he grabbed a hold of Jenny's hand and tried to pull her away from the boys.

"Hold up a minute, tiny. We aren't done talking." Li said.

Ignoring the fuming Sue, Li turned to Jenny and said in a serious voice, " We need to leave this place."

"I know... But for now, until we find a way to do so while protecting all these people simultaneously, we can't just leave." Jenny said seriously.

"You should know how dangerous things are out there, Jenny. Unless a miracle occurs, I don't think we will have the power to take care of all these people. They are barely clinging unto life right now." Li said as he pointed at all the people sitting and lying all over the place.

Their eyes were filled with fear, and their postures screamed of insecurity.

Jenny had a conflicted expression just for a second before it disappeared almost as though it hadn't been there in the first place.

"Right now, we have only two goals. Protecting them and getting stronger. The faster we get stronger, the better we will be able to protect all these people. We might also be able to leave very soon."

Li stared at her in silence for a while before letting out a sigh.

"You never change, do you?" Li said wistfully.

Jenny just responded with a sad smile and a sigh that caused a ripple to spread across her abundant chest...

Noticing the gloomy air, Stan suddenly blurted out,

"Enough of all that! We have better things to do than to wallow here. Let's go!" Stan said in a loud voice.

"Stop yelling, you buffon! We know that already." Seu said with an annoyed frown.

"Hahaha! That's the spirit!" Bursting into laughter, Li gave the embarrassed Stan a thumbs up.

Jenny watched all this play out with a complicated expression on her face...

'Please, please keep us all safe...'