God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

***

Cain stared at the air in front of him with semi-glazed eyes.

'So this is it...'

The salty smell of the ocean mingled with the coppery stench of blood pouring out of the {Alabaster Leviathan}, creating a new and unique aroma.

Right now, Cain was faced with a dillema...

How was he going to assign these free attribute points. Initially, part of the system's function was to assign these free points automatically once there was a successful kill or achievement. Now, the burden of choice was completely upon his shoulders.

Rashness would only lead to error, Cain thought. Instead of assigning them, he decided to keep them in the bank for some time, piling them up...

His eyes turned to the other prompt...

'A new weapon, huh... I wonder what it is...'

Cain quickly opened his inventory. Scanning through, his eyes quickly came to rest upon the weapon in question.

***

{Alabaster Gauntlets}:

Description: The potential of a beast lies not in its cunning, but the might of it's powerful bodies. The Leviathan, a race of mighty Beasts, fell because of their potential.

***

Cain had always thought the description the system gave to equipment rather strange. Most of the time, they often dictated a story, or a strange phrase that was a bit hard to understand.

In this case, from what he could understand, it seemed the {Alabaster Leviathan} was on the road to evolving into a powerful race of creatures called Leviathans. However, while the Leviathans had a lot of potential, this potential was unfortunately the cause of their demise.

Their power bodies was their potential...

When this thought entered his mind, Cain subconsciously glanced at the Leviathan. Indeed, he could sense the thrum of powerful Ki within the beast's body. There was no doubt the beast had a Nexus of Ki. Perhaps it even possessed two If it had been a head on clash, he and his group of fresh Tier 1's would have been wiped out speedily.

But by outsmarting the creature and making use of their unique skills, they gained the upper hand and defeated it without sustaining a single loss.

Cain continued reading...

***

{Alabaster Gauntlets}(Epic, Tier 1):

Attack Power: 200.

Attack Speed: 50.

Durability: 3,000/3,000.

Weight: 5,000Kg.

Skills: Leviathan's Might, Bladed Fist, Manifestation.

***

A very good quality equipment. Cain pondered over what to do with it when his train of thought was disturbed by Evangeline who appeared from nowhere.

Her hair was a bit disheveled, but besides that, it seemed the fight hadn't taken too much from her. A small smile hung on her lips,

"The beast possesses two Nexus of Ki. If not for that spell you cast, we would probably have been unable to defeat it." She said, her smile turning teasing.

Cain's mana pool capacity was quite scary. Although it had cost him almost all his mana, he had managed to freeze an entire stretch of ocean. Even with its incredible might, the {Alabaster Leviathan} had been completely stuck with no way to escape.

"The question now is how do we split the gains..." Susan said as she approached.

Cain thought about it for a while,

"Two Nexuses can be give to those with Ki Plundering Techniques. The mana shard can be given to those that need it. I'll just take what's left."

Ignis walked over, "I'll be having one Nexus of Ki then."

Cain threw her a surprised glance, "You have a Kid Plundering Technique?"

Ignis put one hand on her waist and gave him a disdainful glare,

"Of course I do. Ever powerful warrior does. However, you clearly haven't reached a high Tier with yours, as your Ki keeps leaking all over the place. Mine is always contained within my body."

Realization struck Cain. No wonder she was so powerful physically despite her stats not being very impressive.

"Is that so... I'll have you teach me how to do that some other time." Cain said with a a chuckle.

Ignis snorted but didn't say anything...

Sue stared at the large beast for a long time before sighing,

"I have no need for its mana shard. What about you Sis Jenny?"

Jenny nodded, "Then I'll be taking it. I need Metal elemental mana shards to create bullets after all."

With that it was decided. Although not everyone would get a share of things, it was by choice.

Cain hesitated for a bit before turning to Ignis. She seemed a bit taken aback,

"What is it?"

Cain flashed her a grin, "I want to give you something."

He pulled a pair of white gauntlets from his inventory. They looked to be marred with numerous black streaks, but upn closer inspection, it could be seen that these black streaks were in fact grooves.

The gauntlets radiated a sense of archaic power.

Ignis frowned, "Why are you giving me this?"

"Because I noticed you don't have any weapons. I thought this would be something you would need now that your full capabilities have been restored."

Ignis' face was cold, "It's okay. I don't need your charity."

Cain rolled his eyes, "Who says this is charity? You belong to me, so I don't see anything wrong with it." Both his tone words carried a sense of playful smugness

Silence....

Ignis' eyes turned wide as her somewhat ashen skin turned black. Cain frowned. What was this reaction? Had he said something wrong?

Evangeline shot him a strange look, "Wow..."

Susan and Jenny glared at him, while Sue snickered playfully,

"I never knew this dumb scarfce had it in him to flirt so openly..." Sue said with a laugh that was equa parts amused and equlparts jealous.

Cain immediately stumbled into a pit of confusion. Despite the change in her skin tone, Ignis didn't seem to be aggravated. Instead, she replied calmly,

"The [Body and Soul] contract allows me to refuse at orders I consider inappropriate..."

Cain felt a bit annoyed. What was she trying to say?! He didn't have those intentions at all.

Cain sighed, "What are you talking about? Just take the gauntlets." With that, he shoved the gauntlets into her hands, leaving her a bit dazed.

She took a step forward, wanting to cal out to him, but Susan out a hand on her shoulder,

"Don't worry. He's just a bit dense..." Susan said with an understanding smile.

If Cain had known that the drastic change in skin tone was not because of anger, but rather, embarrassment, how would he had reacted...

***

They quickly got to splitting the gains. The two Nexus of Ki was shared between Evangeline and Ignis, while Jenny took the Beast's mana shard, which was incredibly high quality as well.

'Master... What are you going to do with the rest of it?' Cain heard Ruby say in his mind.

Cain rubbed his almost hairless chin,

"Hmm... Aren't you hungry, Ruby? Have a bite or two..."

'Really?! Thank you, master!'

Ruby let out a roar of excitement as she began feasting on the carcass of the {Alabaster Leviathan}. Cain said nothing more and begancarving out chunks of flesh. These pieces of meat were highly saturated with Ki, so he decided to keep a bunch of it. His appetite since advancing to Tier 1 had grown incredibly.

His stomach felt like a black hole, ready to swallow everything. But he could still endure for now. He also gathered a few of the spikes on the creature's back. They were incredibly hard, yet possessed a strange flexibility. Perfect materials for crafting new items and equipment.

Once they were done, they were ready to leave. Their hunt had been very successful. Not only had they snagged many rewards, they now had a rough idea of how powerful they were.

The frost around the titanic corpse had already melted away, leaving it to float. Blood could be seen leaking out of the enormous corpse. Very soon, it would attract the attention of a multitude of sea vultures that liked to prey on the carcasses of the dead.

The cycle of Life...

An orb of flames appeared in Cain's hand ahd6he threw it onto the body of the Leviathan. The fat in its body quickly caught the flamez allowing it to spread and burn rather rapidly until the entire thing was a magnificent ball of flames that not even the ocean could put out.

It was now time to make their way back and make preparations. Just as they were about to leave, Cain received a mental message from Hunter. His brows immediately shot up,

"What? Are you sure?" Cain asked again.

Evangeline walked up to him, "What is it?"

Cain seemed a bit uneasy, "A mutant Beast Horde..."

Evangeline seemed surprised, but she couldn't understand why Cain was so uneasy,

"It should be fine, right? I'm sure they can handle it until we get back..."

Cain shook his head bitterly, "This is no normal Beast Horde... Hunter said he was informed by Dan that there are multiple Tier 1 beasts in the horde. And it is headed straight for the Western Island."