God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Nothing special happened. Cain stared at his blade with a frown as he watched the threads of mana weave themselves together into the surface of his blade, creating a sharp uncanny edge.

\'Hmm...\'

Deactivating the skill, Cain activated {Lightning Edge} as well. The skill appeared, and just like before, nothing special happened. Swinging his blade forward, Cain slashed the empty space before him.

Then slashed again...

And again...

And again...

He continued for a long time before he finally stopped. Dismissing the weapon, he sat back onto the ground and recalled the tome he had been so engrossed in back into his laps.

Flipping onto the page he had stopped on, he turned the page once again and began reading the contents of the fresh page.

\'After all my years of study, I was only able to create merely a scaffold of a true skill. Hopefully, those who gaze upon these texts, someday in the far future will be able to succeed where I have failed.\'

Cain was now completely sure the book didn\'t belong to the demon, Azazel.

\'This skill doesn\'t have a name, but it\'s purpose is undeniable. It is a skill far superior to others. It is so mighty, it breaks the very essence of what a skill is supposed to be. However, it is still incomplete...\'

Hours later, Cain finally closed the book and gazed down at his feet in deep thought. He had managed to cover half of the content of the first chapter of the ancient book. While some of the details seemed a bit elusive, the rest were remarkably easy to understand.

Most things weren\'t hidden beneath a veil of mysteries but we\'re laid bare for him to try and grasp their secrets.

He recalled the final lines he had read:

\'This world and the next exist in a precarious state of balance. Hence, they both obey the basic laws to a certain degree. One of these laws is the law of restitution. By accepting new knowledge, old knowledge must be burnt away and a new path must be paved.\'

This line bothered Cain a lot. Not because he didn\'t understand what it meant. It was quite the opposite.

Instead, he knew exactly what it meant...

It was also the reason why he was so hesitant and unable to master the so-called \'True Skill\'. After all, why would he be willing to give up some of his already existing and useful skills in exchange for an unknown variable?

He wasn\'t sure if it worked, nor was he able to put his faith in something full of uncertainty.

\'Such a decision... Is certainly heavy.\'

What the sentence meant, was that for him to accept the new skill, he had to destroy all previous knowledge, including the ones that had given him the skills he possessed, essentially starting from the beginning.

What sort of fool would make such a stupid decision?

However, what was he?

Had he ever chosen to apply common sense? The prospect of beginning a new path was extremely enticing, almost magnetic. All he had to do, was make a little sacrifice.

Well, not so little...

Actually, the sacrifice wasn\'t small at all. Cain knew that the reason he was such a threat, was his skills. Without them, he would be a defanged snake, unable to do much except roll around in the mud.

Now, he was choosing to remove these fangs himself. It was all or nothing.

\'But how exactly does one get rid of skills.\'

Cain read he needed to embrace the new, but exactly was he going to let go of the old. How was he even going to embrace the new?!

All of it didn\'t make any sense...

But he wasn\'t done reading yet. He flipped the book open and continued reading once again.

\'To understand the true essence of skills, one must first understand one\'s body, as the body is the conduit of the soul. Without training it, then all is meaningless. Foster the body and the soul. One Mind, one Spirit, one Body...\'

\'So I have to undergo some kind of training first?\'

Can\'t\'s grown deepened once again. So he had to train his body to become better. He had figured it would be something like that, but seeing it himself still put a frown on his face.

The contents of the next page, however, caused his fave to brighten up...

On it was a series of pathways he could recognize as the Ley lines in the human body. Moving within these pathways, was a stream of energy following a predetermined path.

Starting at the energy flowing in the page made him feel incredibly warm inside, almost like the mana within his body had also begun to move in the same pattern.

\'Interesting...\'

Sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, Cain began studying the obscure patterns. Sometimes they twisted, other times they ran in straight lines or curves. And other times they were just a jumble of random scribbles.

Studying them for a long time, Cain willed tha mana in his body to flow according to the patterns.

Thanks to his {Sorcerer\'s Mind} title, and the passive effects of {Mana Heart}, he was able to sense mana much more efficiently and clearly than any other person at Tier 0. It was as such at a frightening level, it gave an ancient demon like Azazel a pause.

The next moment, a wave of terrifying pain assaulted him, causing him to stifle a shout of pain. The intense pain only continued for a brief moment before stopping completely.

A bead of cold sweat rolled down Cain\'s forehead and traced a path across his very pale skin to his neck.

\'What was that?! What the hell was that?!\'

{Replying to host: It seems the host just attempted to control the mana moving within his Ley lines in a certain manner. Doing so has caused the host tremendous pain}.

\'That\'s painfully obvious! What exactly caused this pain?!\' Cain yelled mentally.

{Replying to host: The flow pattern the host is attempting to undertake is extremely dangerous and will cause tremendous pain due to the complexity of it. The more complex the pattern, the more pain and suffering the host will have to endure. That is why the system permits skills that will not have any adverse effects that will cause its host backlash in any way}.

Staying silent for a while, Cain digested the information for a few seconds before he resumed what he was doing.

How was a little bit of pain going to stop him?

He had already made up his mind to bite the bullet and make a sacrifice, so this much pain wasn\'t going to stop him at all. In fact, it served to invigorate him even further.

Taking a deep breath, Cain returned his gaze to the pages of the book and began studying intensely, willing the mana within his body to flow according to the patterns.

It was as though a floodgate of harrowing suffering and pain had been opened up in his head, and had spread to all parts of his body in an instant.

Blood began to seep out of his skin, painting him in a ghastly light. Any person who saw him now would be shocked out of their minds by how terrible he looked.

However, Cain did his best to shelve the pain and continued. This seemed like a provocation to the pain as it suddenly spiked in intensity, nearly knocking him out.

A puddle of blood suddenly appeared around his body, and in it, he lay with his back against an Ice wedge panting heavily.

\'This... This is too much...\' Cain had difficulty breathing due to the intense pain. He immediately activated {Blood Manipulation}. However, it seemed as though the spell had met some obstruction, and was not as effective as it usually was. It did manage to stop the strange bleeding, allowing him to gradually recover some clarity.

\'System, is there any way to stop or lessen the pain?\'

{Replying to host: No, there is none. To undergo this level of change, the host has to deal with this level of change. Trying to alter the predetermined flow of mana within the body is like trying to remove and rearrange organs without an anesthetic}.

\'Damn!\' Cain couldn\'t help but curse.

\'Well, are there any benefits to this?\'

{Replying to host: Yes... The host will be able to control his mana much better, and the execution of skills, as well as their very nature, will be altered greatly. This process depends on the individual on question, and so, those who decide to change the predetermined path will end up with rare and unique skills of their own creation, completely without the help of the system}.

Hearing this from the system, Cain felt his motivation swell...

\'A unique skill of my own, huh...\'

Taking a deep breath, Cain began following the patterns again. The pain was just as intense as before, but this time, with the promise of a very tantalizing reward in front, it somehow seemed slightly more bearable.

Just Slightly...

Blood flowed down from his pores like sweat, dying him in another layer of red. Inside his body, there was turmoil. His organs shifted and turned with distress, and his bones creaked under strain.

The wave of mana within his body obeyed his directive, flowing according to his will. Soon after, he stooped and coughed up a mouthful of blood, he placed a hand on his chest and activated {Blood Regeneration} again.

Once he had healed to a substantial level, he gritted his teeth and began once again.

Inside his body, a surging tide of turquoise flowed within hid Ley lines. They pushed against their original flow and rushed in a completely different pattern, causing their vessel to become strained.

They streamed through the narrow canals, pushing and pushing, bringing his massive pain and stress.

Whenever the pain and bleeding became too much, he would stop and use {Blood Regeneration} to heal, then continue once he was healed. This process went on for a few more hours...

As soon as the first light of dawn broke through the horizon, a loud crashing sound echoed through Cain\'s mind, soul, and body...

He felt the stream of mana within him turn into a nourishing flame that seeped through his bleeding pores and granted him relief.

The blood around him had become an armor of red due to it solidifying on his skin. However, all that was nothing compared to the relief he felt inside.

Taking a look inside his body, he found that the mana within his body seemed even purer as it flowed according to the flow of the patterns within the book.

He had done it...

He had prevailed. The pain had driven him to the brink of madness and was just a single push from throwing him into the abyss of insanity.

But he didn\'t yield...

Suddenly, a soft chime rang in his ears and the voice of the system echoed in his very soul...

{Congratulations to Host... You have consolidated your pathways...}

{All previous Battle skills of the Host have been wiped away, but replacing them are the mysteries of the new...}

{You have unlocked the special skill, Burning Spirit... }