God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

In reality, this path had been traveled by countless others. In fact, some civilizations on worlds far beyond the stars were built with magical engineering as their backbone, using it to create outstanding structures that defied natural laws, spaceships that could travel the void, unperturbed by the distance or dangers, and weapons that could turn stars into stardust.

Cain had just luckily stumbled across it due to his curiosity and the alignment of the stars.

Probably...

However, one thing was certain... He was nowhere near the level of reaching beyond the stars. Right now, he had to figure out how to make a simple tool using Magical Engineering.

The thing that he needed to take into consideration the most, was the materials needed to create these weapons. Regardless of how precious a particular metal was, it wouldn't, or rather, couldn't be useful in certain cases if it lacked the necessary properties.

For example...

The {Black Tungsten} Cain possessed had a vast range of properties that made it a magical and wonderful material to work with.

However, it wasn't perfect. It had a very obvious flaw. And that was its relationship with cooling. Or rather sudden contraction of the molecules making up the material.

When the material was cooled too suddenly, it would cause it to develop cracks, making it too brittle to be useful for anything. Cain had found this out the hard way, after wasting tens of pounds of the precious metal when he was creating the {Black Eggs}.

As such, if Cain needed a material that would be used in a situation where there would be rapid expansion and contraction of a certain metal, then he wouldn't pick the {Black Tungsten} regardless of how precious it was...

This was Cain's main headache. Finding appropriate materials, or substitutes. The other problem was quite similar. However, it was of a more magical nature.

The runes and magic circles...

Magic is an important part of Magical Engineering. There was no debate about it. One could even argue that it was the most important component of it.

The runes used in Jenny's weapon couldn't be replicated by him. However, he could vaguely understand their uses.

Nevertheless, even this much was managed only by him utilizing all that he had. He also gained a lot of understanding from the system, as well as previous knowledge.

By totally understanding what you intended to do, half the work was done already. All he needed to do was work with the materials he had on hand to find fitting alternatives.

Cain was determined...

Despite these obstacles, he was confident he could overcome them with a bit of work, thinking outside the box, and a sprinkle of luck...

Luck being the most important component...

***

After a fair long time, Cain stepped out of the room...

Looking around, he took in the details of his environment. When they had first come in, he hadn't had the time to access just where they were. Now that his body was working relatively better, he decided to scope out the layout.

'I'm getting really tired of these caves.'

This place was more of a cave since it was a hole in a mountain. However, it was very different from the caves of the Evil Mountain. The walls and corridors didn't intersect and overlap. Rather, there was one main corridor with many corridors branching in. The cave system was also very big. Bug enough to fit these eight hundred beast men and still have surplus space.

The roofs of the corridors were also very high.

Cain also couldn't tell if the cave was created by artificial or natural means. However, the walls of the cave were made of very smooth rock. Cain could also sense faint magical properties from it with his {Eye of Clairvoyance}.

The lighting in the cave was incredibly poor. However, these beastmen all had incredible eyesight, so they could see just fine.

He was walking through the main corridor, he was looking for Susan, as he wanted to discuss something very important with her.

However, he ran into a group of patrolling beastmen first. The moment they saw him, looks of admiration and fear appeared on their faces.

'So they've spread the news, huh.' Cain thought to himself with a chuckle.

'Well, it is in line with my goals, so I see no harm in it.'

The beastmen had all been informed of the reality that it wasn't the Beast god, Pluto that had saved them. Rather, it was Cain...

Some of them were skeptical at first. However, when some people spoke up to say they had actually gotten glimpses of him as he raced through the corridors to heal people, the voices of opposition died out.

Then, some had suggested that Cain and his retinue were apostles of the god, Pluto, who had come to rescue them in their greatest time of distress.

As such, their reverence towards Cain had increased drastically. It also didn't help that Jenny was the one fanning the flames of this propaganda behind the scenes. As such, the girls were no longer treated as badly. There were thrown glances of distrust from time to time as they didn't fully trust them. However, it wasn't as obvious as it was before.

Cain walked passed the group of men with fanatical expressions on their faces, giving them a brief nod as he passed them by.

Seeing the look in their eyes increase in intensity, Cain couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable. It was strange...

Although they had been in the depths of despair before he had healed them, there was no reason for them to have such expressions on their faces when they stared at him. It was like they were just two seconds away from falling to their knees and worshipping him.

Shaking his head, he pushed it out of his mind and continued walking. His mind was still embroiled in deep thought, so he didn't notice when someone snuck up on him.

When he noticed the strange presence, she was already behind him...

'Moving through shadows... What a convenient ability.'

If Evangeline had chosen that time to strike at him, unless he had a defensive spell that activated passively, he could have been killed on the spot.

An assassin was a terrifying creature regardless of which world you were in. It also didn't help that she really had the ability to kill him with a single blow if he wasn't careful.

'Scary...'

Cain turned around to stare into the ruby eyes.

"So, what did you find?"

Cain had asked Evangeline to search around the areas surrounding this mountain to see if there were any significant threats.

That was just a front...

In reality, he had noticed something that gave him chills. At the time, he couldn't tell what it was because he had been in terrible condition and couldn't use {Eye of Clairvoyance} to investigate.

He had asked Evangeline to check around because of this feeling. And from the looms of it, he was right.

Evangeline spoke in a flaccid voice,

"To put it nicely, we are surrounded. To put it not so nicely, we are screwed."

Cain scratched his head, "I figured as much. Is it that bad?"

Evangeline shrugged, "Thousands of level 99 {Blood Abominations}. These are a cut above the ones on the outskirts of the fragmented land. They are so many, they cover the ground for miles."

Cain frowned, "That..."

However, Evangeline wasn't done yet,

"And when I say a cut above, I don't just mean a regular power difference. Some of them are just different in appearance, while some have different skill sets. Some of them can fly too!"

Cain let out a sigh, "I see..."

Evangeline nodded grimly, "However, they don't seem intent on attacking just yet. They are trapping us in properly. When they attack, there will be no room to escape."

"Which means we have time to prepare. Get in touch with Jenny and Susan. Explain this to them. I'll talk to Hunter."

Evangeline nodded. However, she hesitated for a second before she spoke up again,

"Do you plan on fighting to the death?"

Cain raised a brow, "Why ask that question?"

"I just wanted to let you know that you aren't obligated to fight for all these people. Your original plan was to save Hunter and be done with it. However, it feels like you want to play hero which is something I seriously advise against."

Cain was stunned speechless,

"Hero? That's the last thing I'd try to pull off."

Cain shook his head, a small smile on his face,

"I have numerous reasons for wanting to save these men. I'm not stupid enough to say it's something that I want to do because I don't. Rather, I'm making use of this opportunity to build the foundations of an army..."

Cain got serious, "I don't know if you know this, but big changes are going to be happening in our world. Regardless of how strong we get, these changes aren't something, two, three, or five, or even a hundred people can face. I'm simply taking advantage of this situation."

Evangeline shrugged, "There are better, safer ways to build an army."

Cain grinned, a wild look dancing in his eyes,

"I know. However, where's the fun in that?"

Evangeline stared at Cain for a while. Soon, a being flame seemed to be ignited in the depths of her gem-like eyes. A wide smile appeared on her face.

"It seems like I misjudged you."

Cain shrugged, "Plus, it'd be a waste to just let them all fall here. At the very least, let's make their deaths worthwhile..."

Indeed, Cain wasn't a hero...

If these men were really condemned to death by fate, then there was nothing he could do about it, regardless of how hard he screamed at the heavens.

However, there was something he could do...

And that was giving these men the opportunity to grasp this fate with their own hands. He was going to give them the ability to fight for a future that didn't involve them dying like dogs.

If they were going to die, then he was going to make their deaths meaningful...