God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Upon getting out of the building, Cain a quick look around to observe his surroundings.

'The skies are grey.'

The formerly blue skies were covered in grey clouds that stretched out as far as the eyes could see.

This added backdrop of melancholy made the already downcast atmosphere even more depressing and gloomy.

He briefly scanned the area for any potential threats, before heading in a certain direction. When the god ash fell, the monsters scattered to various areas of the school, and he was headed to one of the places he figured a large number of them had fallen.

He walked for some time until the building behind him disappeared. As he walked forward, he noticed the silhouette of a few figures dancing ahead of him.

***

{Bladeless Devil Spawn}: Level 3(Normal)

Strength: 30

Agility:20

Defense: 5.

HP: 200/200

MP:20/20

Skills: Nil.

These monsters were shorter than the ones he had previously encountered, about the height of an average human, with little defense, as they were not covered in black scales like the others. They had dark oily skin with sunken hollow eyes and a set of sharp yellow canines that were covered in blood.

The sight of these monsters indulging in human flesh with expressions of sadistic delight on their ugly faces didn't incite any emotions in Cain. This feeling of indifference towards situations like this made him worried.

'Am I still human?' Cain thought to himself.

All he cared about, was how much his strength would have increased after he was through slaughtering the monsters before him.

Cain counted about 30 of them feasting on 5 dead humans on the road that was littered with torn-up pieces of clothing and flesh. A few vehicles that were damaged in accidents, smoke escaping from their engines now lay on the road.

The road had nothing but the echoes of human bones snapping, and the disturbing chatter of the monsters accompanying Cain.

The monsters had yet to notice him, so Cain knew he held the advantage. He drew his blade, and with the speed of a bullet, raced down the road toward the monsters. The road was bordered by trees. These trees were part of an artificial forest that led from Cain's department to the main campus.

The monsters noticed Cain running towards them. They immediately stopped eating their meal, and faced Cain with the desire to tear him apart, blood still dripping from their jaws and claws.

"Mana Blade."

Cain activated {Mana Blade}, a thin film of mana wrapping around the blade. He dived into the monsters with a bloodthirsty grin of lunacy on his face.

This was one thing that managed to get his blood pumping. The ability to slaughter to his heart's content. The way he saw things, no more would he have to be faced with the problem of perpetual boredom.

These monsters were weak compared to the opponent Cain had faced just recently. With every swing of his blade, a head was sent flying. He didn't even give them a chance to retreat, and in the blink of an eye, all 30 of them lay dead on the ground.

'Didn't even need to use {Golden Blood}, although the amount of exp is too little.'

When he was done killing them, he noticed that the total amount of exp he had gotten from killing 30 of these monsters was very little compared to the level he was currently in. If he wanted to level up, he had to kill a lot more.

Since Cain didn't know what to expect, he decided not to go too far from the department complex, in case he encountered something he couldn't face, he would be able to retreat to safety.

2 hours later...

He had encountered a lot of weak monsters during this time. His level progress had seen only a bit of progress, and he hadn't gotten any extra stats or runes from them, on a few HP and MP regen potions.

He decided to take a short break to recover his expended stamina while he took a look at his status screen.

Name: {Cain Lenosi}

Level: 7.

Strength: 54(10).

Agility: 57(15).

Stamina: 3/42.

Vitality: 23.

Defense: 15.

Control: 3.0.

HP: 200/2,300.

MP: 100/750.

Magic: 15.

Skills: Golden blood, Mana Blade.

Titles: Nil

Free attribute points: 4.

System points: 60.

{Inventory}. {Shop}

{Golden blood level.1: Upon activation, multiply all physical stats by 2. Consumes 100 MP, and costs 1 point of stamina per second to maintain. Puts the body of the user under great strain. (100/10000 SP).

This is an internal skill, hence, it can be upgraded.}

{Mana Blade: Coat the surface of your blade with destructive mana to deal an extra 200% damage when attacking. It Consumes 5MP per second to sustain. Note:This is an external active skill, and cannot be upgraded.}

{Note: Host can only possess 5 internal skills before each tier evolution}.

He put all four free attribute points into magic. He figured that once the number of skills increased, his mana consumption would increase as well. Hence, he would need to increase his mana pool as early as possible.

Rune of agility: +5 points to agility.

He took out the other rune he had gotten and used it on himself. The process was still as painful as the last time...

Cain smiled in satisfaction, looking at his stats. He was many times more powerful than he originally was. The only thing he felt he was lacking was the number of skills he had under his belt. To him, being able to create skills by himself meant the possibilities were limitless.

Once his stamina had regenerated to full, he drew his {Bloody Katana}band and began swinging. He wanted to try out one of the skill-creation methods the system had informed him about. If he was able to create a skill like this, he would have so many new doors opened to him.

He began practicing all the blade forms taught to him by his mysterious master. His legs spread apart, he let the faint breeze direct the trajectory of his blade, making it unpredictable, like the wind...

As he swung the blade, he couldn't help but reminisce of that fateful day, the day his fate had been changed by a mysterious man...

"Do you know what the true essence of battle is?"

The man spoke to the body laying on the ground. The body was covered in bruises and scratches, with only a few articles of clothing on his back. In his hand, he held onto a slightly curved blade.

He didn't say anything to the man, he just stood back up from the ground with shaky knees. The handsome face of a young boy with caramel eyes and raven black hair was revealed as soon as he got up from the ground.

His dark eyes told of his resolve, as even with all his injuries, they didn't waver in the slightest. On the contrary, they burned with a fierce light, the excitement within them capable of causing a fire.

"Ha!"

The boy charged at the man once again. The old man was without a weapon, but he faced the approaching blade of the young man with a limpid gaze. With his index and middle fingers stretched like a blade, he stopped the approaching blade lime it was made of cardboard.

CLANG!

The sound of metal against metal rang out, as the boy, not surprised by this astonishing feat, simply withdrew his blade swiftly. He loosened his grip on the hilt for a split second, then dragged his blade across the man's fingers. The sword was headed straight for the man's neck, but once again;

It was stopped again. However, the boy showed no signs of being frustrated. He once again withdrew his blade, and this time, he brought it down with an overhead chop directly at the man. This attack, was in fact, a faint.

As soon as he noticed the man bring his fingers up to block, he tilted the blade slightly. With the blade tilted, the air surrounding the blade pushed against the flat of the blade, causing the blade to divert from its intended path.

Suddenly, the blade was no longer heading for the man's head, but with a horizontal chop, he aimed at the man's waist.

'I got you now!'

The boy was already rejoicing in his heart, however...

SMACK!

The blade was once again blocked by the man. This time, by the back of his hand.

The boy's eyes widened in surprise, as he didn't expect his genius move to be blocked as well.

"My turn..."

Before the boy could even blink, the side palm of the man was already resting on his shoulder. He didn't even notice when he closed the distance between them. He felt like a mountain crashed into him, his head spinning from the weight of the attack.

'I lost again...'

The boy lay on the ground once again, staring at the blue sky for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

"Do you know what martial arts is?"

The young boy, Cain, didn't answer, because he didn't know how to. He was just a kid after all.

"I don't know." The young Cain answered.

"Hahaha!" The man let out a hearty chuckle.

"I guess we'll just have to find out. Come again!"

With that, another bout began...

Cain recalled the feeling he had that day. The way he held his sword, the way the wind helped him move the blade, guiding it towards its intended destination. His eyes shone with the light of realization.

{Congratulations to the host for creating a new external active skill: Lightening Edge}

{+ 1 to all stats.}

{Lightening Edge: Increase attack speed by 100%. Critical rate increases by 5% when the skill is used. Cost 100MP to activate.

Cooldown: 1 minute.

{Congratulations to the host for acquiring a new internal passive skill: Blade Mastery}.

{Blade Mastery: Increases attack power and speed with bladed weapons by 10%. Increases critical chance and rate by 1%} (100/5,000SP)

{New stat: Perception, unlocked...}

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