God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 153: Evolving Mana Heart.

Name: {Cain Lenosi}

Level: 45.

Strength: 700.

Agility: 772.

Stamina: 399/483.

Vitality: 421.

Defense: 462.

Control: 44.6.

Perception: 46.8.

HP: 10,050/19,700.

MP: 17,000/26,800.

Magic: 926.

Ki: 13,274.

Spirit: 584.

Resistance: Poison- 80%. Fire- 30%

Skills: Golden Body, Mana Blade, Lightening Edge, Burst Step, Metal Creation Lvl.2, Golden Severance, Metal Manipulation, *Fear, *Bloodthirsty, Blood Regeneration, Azure Burst, Mana Heart, Seal, Hollow Judgement, Devil's eyes: Eye of Clairvoyance, Elemental Body, Abyssal Dragon Blade Mastery Tier 1, Abyssal Crimson Slash, Spirit Sense.

Spells: Art of Fire: Flame Orbs, Air Whip, Dark Cloak, Blue Lightning, Blink, Golden Halo.

Titles: Champion of Ashur (locked), Sorcerer's Mind, Blessed by Mana, Pioneer, Devil Hunter.

Free attribute points: 43.

System points 100,709.

{Inventory}. {Shop}.

{Soul Sense (passive)lvl.1: Increases mana sensitivity and ability to sense energy fluctuations. Costs 50MP per second.

(1/10,000).

{Mana Heart}:{Mana Heart (passive): Mana pool increases by 2×. Mana is regenerated at 5MP per second. The Cooldown of all skills and spells is reduced by 50%. For every level, +1 extra point to Magic stat. Grants host the ability to absorb and transform pure forms of mana. Increases internal mana quantity, purity, and density, as well as mana recovery rate by 500%.

***

{Mana Heart} was mutated due to Cain's body and soul being overly saturated with mana. His being had made contact with the origins of the arcane, but because of overexposure, which was something every runecrafter had to experience, but not quite to the level Cain had experienced, he had turned into something different.

Over 50 times...

Over 50 times, he had subjected himself to the most gruesome of tortures and had to constantly keep his body alert and his mind sane, so he could preserve his life. Like a ship drifting in the currents, he had almost capsized many times, but fortunately for him, he managed to stay afloat even after the storm had passed.

But his ship or in this case, his soul had been flooded by the currents, and had even sustained minor damages, allowing mana to flow in constantly. As a way of self-preservation, his soul had found a way to release the excess mana by regurgitating what it had swallowed.

These two conditions manifested themselves in the form of two of his skills.

{Mana Heart} was evolving due to the currents of mana causing damage to his soul, and in his soul's attempt to fix it, it ended up having to create a sort of "engine" that allowed him to absorb the surrounding mana without any continuous harm occurring to his soul while releasing the excess mana that his soul could not contain due to incapacity as the {Soul Sense} skill.

It was like his soul knew exactly what to do when he encountered such a situation. The mechanism was built as a reaction to his near-death experience. He possessed the soul of a primordial dragon which was in and of itself, one of the most powerful souls in existence in the entire universe.

The soul truly was a strange phenomenon...

Cain activated {Mana Heart}...

"Mana Heart!"

It was like fireworks blazing through the skies...

BOOM!

An explosion resounded in the depths of his soul. An aura of the purest of mana surged from the depths of his soul and body. Like a beating heart, the engine in his soul began churning out pure and abundant mana from within, while the second heart in his chest pumped out mana into his bloodstream, creating an almost visible aura around his body.

It caused the light around him to be affected in such a way, that it appeared like it was forced to bend out of the way, almost as though he had created an invisible magnetic or gravitational field around his being.

The effects were nonetheless aesthetically remarkable, but what was even more extraordinary, was the amount of pressure Cain was presently emitting. If he so happened to activate any of his skills now, it won't be a surprise if he was 5 times stronger than his former self.

Just a few hours after his battle with Forza and he was already stronger than before.

He clenched his fist, feeling the mana coursing through him. He could feel it in every nook and cranny. His body was crackling in delight, as the mana seemed to have positive effects on his physical body.

He was excited at all the different possibilities.

For one, what this meant, was that all his skills had been upgraded by a large margin. He was way more powerful than he was currently, but he wasn't satisfied. This amount of power might be amazing, but it still wasn't significant enough when coming face to face with the dangers that had invaded the world he inhabited.

He wanted more...

No! He needed more...

More power, so that rules on how he would live his life would be dictated by him and him alone. He wanted to grab fate by the horns and take hold of destiny.

If he was fated to die, then he would rather die standing, knowing he had tried his very best, than live on his knees, bowing to the whims of fate, giving up halfway... He was in it all the way.

It was do, or die...

***

Cain eventually managed to calm down. Now wasn't the time to be joyous over a little bit of achievement.

He had finally succeeded in gaining control over his mana. What he didn't know, was that due to his special conditions, he was a very special case. Not only did he now possess a unique soul that not even the primordial Golden dragon possessed, but his soul also granted him abilities that were the dream of every runecrafter, regardless of experience.

{Mana Heart} and {Soul Sense} were the skills that would improve the fundamentals of a runecrafter. The fave Cain in excess, what every runecrafter dreamt of in their dreams.

All in all, Cain now had a serious advantage over most of the other runecrafter in the cosmos, when it came down to the fundamentals.

Now he was ready for the next step, which was to connect the mana flow patterns with his runes. This process would be where the real work started. All others before this were just preparations. Now, the main thing was about to begin.

Sensing mana...

Controlling mana...

Connecting the flow patterns to the runes, using the soul as the anchor...

Those were the three basic steps to runecrafting, and not one of them could be skipped. Cain had passed the two main hurdles, but the last one would put him to the test.

This last test depended on not only his hard work but on his creativity well as. Only those with sufficient talent would be able to produce real works of magical art.

A real link with the arcane could not be formed by just a connection but by a deep understanding. It was only through understanding, that the true essence of the runes would be brought out. So far, the only runes Cain had seen were the most basic of runes, as well as runes he would be able to use for practicing that were located in the time given to him by Ashur.

He was about to take the final step towards his goal of becoming a runecrafter, but Cain was nothing short of confidence in himself. He had even managed to put his life on the line, so nothing else could faze him.

He was ready...

***

Three days later...

"Bring it all here!"

The entire Island Northern Island was covered in slight darkness, but that darkness was offset by the new breath of life that radiated from it gently.

"This is all from that side. We've basically wiped the whole Island clean!" A voice could be heard as a man dressed in raggedy clothes walked out from the shrubbery that had already begun to grow back even though the devils had done a number on the soil. There were a few other people who worked in clearing out the surrounding weeds and searching for useful herbs.

Because they had been granted a decent amount of stats, they were able to sense small magic fluctuations, so finding the herbs wasn't that much of a problem.

Mana was so precious because it was capable of bringing life to a place that had lost it...

Because the mana surrounding them was so rich, it was only natural for the Water, Nature and Earth elemental mana in the air to be abundant as well. The ground would absorb these two elemental mana forms and provide it with the energy it needed to live once again.

Steve stood in a man-made clearing with a notepad he had gotten from who knows where in one hand, and a feather that seemed to be created from magic in the other. He was scribbling something down with maximum concentration, but would periodically also yell out orders to people who passed him by.

"What should we do with all this Valerian? It is the excess that remains after we have calculated what we need to create the potions." Dan who still had bandages wrapped around his wounds that weren't healed completely said with a frown.

Without looking up, Steve responded, "Excess is good. Valerian had a whole lot of uses asides from making healing potions. It is also a powerful narcotic and can be used in several poisons..." Steve said with a low tone, his hands moving along the paper with extreme speed.

Dan's eye twitched a bit hearing Steve's words. He looked him up and down, but just shook his head as he had run out of words.

"So we keep them? Gottchu..."

Dan turned around to the huge pile of glowing herbs behind him. In normal conditions, Valerian appeared to be a normal plant with purple flowers, but because of its magical properties, it would glow even in the slightest darkness.

Because the entire Island was a bit dark due to the pearly blankets covering the sky, the Valerian emitted a subtle magical glow, making them fairly easy to find.

A magic circle appeared above Dan's hands, which cause a very cold breeze to blow, freezing all the leftover Valerian and preserving them. With a wave of his hand, all the Valerian disappeared into his inventory.

"Where's Hunter been?" Suddenly, Steve who had been busy writing stopped and looked up at Dan who had a bored expression on his face as he played with a shuriken he had created from Ice.

"Hm? He's still by the shore... He's keeping watch and training. I don't know what he's keeping watch for though." Dan said.

"He's keeping an eye out for any changes that might come up all of a sudden. His skills make him the perfect candidate, and most importantly for him, it gives him all the time he needs to train as he is certain there will be no changes over the next few days." Steve instantly broke down Hunter's thinking.

Dan stared at his with wide eyes...

"Hehe... Nothing can be hidden from the eyes that see the illumination." Steve said with a smile as his eyes lit up with runes and magical light.

A sour expression appeared on Dan's face as he couldn't help but complain,

"Why do you all have these weird eye skills, but I don't?"

The {Devil Eye} skill wasn't exclusive to anyone, and Dan assumed that since many people in their group had it, then it shouldn't be rare.

Steve had a look of pride on his face as he spoke,

"Well, it is rare as it depends on a very delicate combination of skill, destiny, luck, and of course soul strength. If your soul isn't strong enough to bear with it... Pop!"

Steve even created a small magical explosion to emphasize his point.

Although Dan was a bit sour, he understood that his soul strength and luck probably weren't on par with those who had the skill, so he chose to let it go as he didn't want it weighing him down.

"However, that doesn't mean it is unattainable. All you'll need is hard work and a bit of luck." Steve said with a laugh.

"Besides, I don't think you need that upgrade..." Steve said with a weird smile to which Dan responded with a weird look.

"Were you even in the last fight? I was completely useless!" Dan said, a bit of reproach in his voice. Although he was powerful in his own right, he was not nearly as strong as the others in the group. He was currently the weakest member in terms of direct damage. His skills, unlike David's, weren't centered on defense.

However, his skills were also not attacking skills and depended much more on the way it was used.

Steve just stared at Dan with a weird smile and said nothing other than, "Soon enough, you'll see..."

"Tch! Creepy bastard!" Dan clicked his tongue.

"My work here is done. I'm going to meet up with Hunter."

A pair of sabatons appeared on his foot and immediately, he zoomed off into the distance.