God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 171: Golden Secrets, Golden Promises, Golden Rewards...

Cain stared at Ashur with a dull expression that said more than enough about the emotions he was still going through.

After all, it wasn't every day a mere mortal like him got to be nearly killed, then kissed by a god. It was only expected that he would be in deep shock.

"You seem shocked..." Cain couldn't tell what expression the golden dragon had on his face, but he could sense the hints of laughter dancing within his words.

Cain gritted his teeth and spoke to Ashur as he felt a headache building up,

"You know what's going on, right?"

"Possibly..." Ashur gave a lukewarm response.

'Bastard! He clearly knows what's going on!'

The golden dragon lowered his head onto the massive floating land mass, resting just before Cain,

"You should try your best to be more careful. Should you have come in contact with any of my deceased enemies, you'd be in for a treat. Hahaha!" The golden dragon laughed as it flared its nostrils, producing a breath of hot air.

"How is this my fault?! I found a pearl in the entrails of a fish, but when I made contact with it, I ended up in the presence of that lunatic Frost goddess!" Cain nearly choked as he angrily recounted his experience to the chuckling dragon.

"Well, while you might not be entirely at fault, you still need to exercise some level of caution when doing things. And if you want to get involved in the game of the divine, you must have the power to back it up..." Ashur said seriously.

"What exactly is going on?" Cain asked with a frown.

Ashur fell silent for a few seconds before he began narrating a story,

"Since time immemorial, celestial beings have been near immortal. The passing of time can not kill a celestial. The only thing that can bring a celestial to his feet is an even stronger celestial being. Surprisingly, this happens a lot as battles within the two factions are quite frequent..."

"Once a celestial dies, three things are produced after the incineration of the sacred flame. The first is the heavily mana-concentrated god ash, and the second is called god remnants, which are fragments of the deceased being's power, knowledge, both, or even its sacred flame..."

"The possibilities are endless, as there are millions upon millions of celestial deities and beasts that exist in the higher heavens. The third thing they leave behind is a piece of their soul that contains their most precious memories.

This piece of their soul is an independent existence, but it is also connected to their god remnants, acting as the control for the enormous legacy they leave behind..."

Cain let Ashur's words sink in...

"So who was she?" Cain said softly...

Ashur let out a grand sigh that contained indescribable emotions Cakn didn't even think the great indomitable celestial dragon could have.

"A past friend... Acquaintance... Lover. She noticed my presence in you, that's why she freaked out. She was one of the stronger celestial deities that deflected during the final part of the thousand-millennium war. She stood by me during the final fight too.

I thought I saved them all, but it seems I was unsuccessful even in death..." A grey look was reflected in Ashur's eyes as he spoke with a slight drawl as though he was in a dream.

Cain was silent for a while before he took a few steps forward and placed a hand on the mountainlike snout of the enormous creature...

Cain could feel all the emotions...

The pain, regret, self-blame, sadness, and longing...

He could feel everything...

He wasn't an emotionless creature that couldn't understand what had made the golden dragon experience those feelings. Besides, the link between them made it so that he was able to feel these emotions extremely vividly...

"Seems like my comrades and family I gathered during my numerous journeys were all hunted down by the army of that bastard, Tian. Thankfully, my backup worked." Ashur said with a sigh.

"I'll get stronger and help you take him down..." Cain said with conviction.

"Hahaha! Before you think about that, I think you'll need to face the dangers before you... If you think devils are so easily defeated, you are in for a nasty treat. Even we celestial have always had a hard time battling devils." Ashur said.

"Doesn't matter..." Cain said stubbornly.

Ashur let out a chuckle before staring deeply at Cain...

"However, you also gained a lot from that encounter with Lyros. A celestial deity's power, even in death isn't something one can come across so easily. Judging from how strong I felt her divinity was, she is very close to reincarnation. Once she gathers enough divinity, all she would need to do is find a suitable body and be reborn.

From there, her ascent back to godhood would only be a matter of time." Ashur said.

"Why can't you do the same thing?" Cain asked curiously.

"After I was defeated by Tian, I was fully destroyed. As the Golden Emperor, ruler of all that is heavenly, he had the power to strip the dead of their sacred flame. However, due to how special the {Dragon Gate Ki Plundering Technique} is, he couldn't strip me of mine. Instead, he tried destroying it. Hehehe...

Little did he know that I had so many ways to make sure I didn't truly die!" Ashur said, pride evident in his voice.

"So you aren't truly dead?" Cain asked

"Well... I am dead. But a portion of my soul was able to survive, alongside a drop of golden indestructible blood that contains all my secrets. That's all the information I will be giving you. Knowing everything at once takes all the fun out of everything..." Ashur said with a chuckle.

"Is that so..." Although he was still very curious, Cain decided to let it go for now. He had already gained more than enough information as it was. He could get the rest later...

"Now back to the exciting part... It seems like Lyros gave you(us) something special..." Ashur adjusted his huge body to lean against the floating landmass, allowing Cain full view of its large reptilian frame.

"Something special?"

"Yes... She is a celestial being on the verge of rebirth, so it is no doubt that whatever she gave you is going to be incredibly useful to you." Ashur said.

"Alright..."

"However, you must have it at the back of your mind that you aren't the only one with so many powers at arm's length. The battle for a second go at immortality is very cruel and many of these crazy celestial beings will stop at nothing to be reborn. From how easy it was for you to encounter a god remnant of Lyros, you will definitely find many lesser god remnants in your world."

"Do be careful when coming into contact with them. If they belong to celestial beasts, most of them will notice my presence and reward you with power, but if you encounter any belonging to a celestial deity, you might as well kiss your(our) life goodbye." Ashur said with a snort.

"Eh?! I thought Lyros was a celestial deity. Why do you make it sound like you were an enemy of all the gods in your past life?" Cain asked with raised brows.

"Enemy? Hmph! Those bastards weren't worthy enough to have been called my enemies." Ashur said, pride oozing from his words.

"Oh, really..." Cain responded with an eye roll...

"Yes... I wasn't an enemy of those bastards. I was their killer... Their grim reaper. The death that sat unnoticed at their dining tables and escorted them off to the grave with a smile once they were done with their meals..." The eerie white and black eyes of Ashur gave off a frightening glow as he spoke, causing Cain to swallow a mouthful of saliva.

"Those gods are corrupted and dirty. While there are some bastards amongst the celestial beasts, we aren't as proud and haughty as those bastards. We are supposed to be one race. United... Instead, they pick the most stupid of reasons to wage war. Thank goodness my grandfather was so strong.

If he wasn't..."

Cain fell into deep thought as he wondered what it was like in the planes above him, where creatures with power thousands of times greater than his were dwelling.

"Don't think about it too much... You still have a long way to go, so thinking about all these now won't do you any good. Good luck... I have a feeling you are going to be needing it soon." Ashur said as he drifted away from the Island.

Cain felt the all too familiar suction force pull on his soul as he was forced out of that place and back into the real world.

His eyes opened only to reveal the worried face of Old Man Ling who now looked a few years younger with less white hair on his wrinkled chin.

"T-thank the gods! I-I thought something bad had happened!" The Old Man nearly fell to the ground as he let out a deep breath of relief.

"I'm alright... In fact, I'm better than alright." Cain said with a small smile as he noticed a few system prompts floating at the corner of his vision.

"Are you done absorbing all the mana shards?" Cain asked Old Man Ling.

"Yes, boss! My skill has become more powerful!" Old Man Ling said excitedly.

Cain knew he couldn't give the old man high-quality mana shards, so he settled for replacing quality with quantity, giving him a bunch of grade 9 and 8 mana shards to supplement it.

Since the ice element was just a paraelemental of water, its power could be raised with water-attributed mana shards, although Ice attributed mana shards do exist...

"That's good... Show me how much." Cain said with a smile.

Old Man Ling nodded his head and then moved close to the water. Placing his hand a few inches away from his body, just above the water's surface, he closed his eyes. Magic circles appeared above, below, and to the sides of his stretched-out hand.

Cain watched for a few seconds, waiting for the changes, but when no changes came about, he was a bit shocked.

"What happ-" Before he was able to complete his sentence, Cain's eyes widened as he saw the waters surrounding the entire beach freeze over in a split second. Crackling noises came from all over as the frost continued to spread until it reached a distance of 100 meters away from the shore.

"How is it, boss?" Old Man Ling asked nervously.

"Hmm... How did your skill get so powerful?" Cain asked with wide eyes.

"I don't know... When I was absorbing the energy from the mana shards, you began emitting an incredibly chilly aura that began seeping into my body, nearly killing me in the process. I was able to manage with the help of my skill, but I would have died if the aura hadn't stopped just as suddenly as it had appeared.

The aura somehow changed the properties of my skill, greatly increasing the range and strength of the ice I can make." Old Man Ling said.

Turning his palm the other way, the magic circles floating above his hand began to change and rearrange. The Ice began to melt and change quickly into vapor. In a few seconds, he had turned the entire bed of ice into a giant steam cloud that floated into the sky like a geyser.

"Incredible..." Cain watched the spectacle with wide eyes.

'Only a minuscule amount of power from the Battle goddess of Frost, Lyros was able to increase this Old Man Ling's battle power by so much!'

"This is more than enough... With this, the plan should go on without any issues." Cain said with a small laugh.

Cain immediately opened his status screen to check what sweet rewards had been given to him by the icy bipolar goddess.

However, only a few seconds after opening it, Cain closed it with a very dark expression on his face. He looked like he had just been forced to drink a full liter of the most bitter cocktail on the planet.

"What the hell is this?!" Unable to control himself, Cain yelled out in rage, causing Old Man Ling to nearly have a heart attack.

The reason he had broken out in such rage, was because he had not been given a sweet reward like he expected. Instead, he had been given quite the opposite.

{Warning: A curse has been cast on the host by the Battle goddess of Frost, Lyros...}

"She cursed me?!"