As soon as Cain put it into his mouth, he noticed that the blood had a sweet and mellow taste alongside a silky fragrance. It wasn't bad at all. As he swallowed, however, he regretted his decision instantly.
He felt like he'd just swallowed a cup of scalding hot water. The stream of heat traveled down his throat into his stomach, bringing his agonizing pain.
"ARGHHHH!"
Cain clutched his stomach in pain, wondering why he had done something so stupid. He hadn't expected the blood to be so dangerous.
'System. What is going on?!'
{Replying to host: Directly ingesting blood that has been mutated by God Ash in the way you just did will lead to severe abdominal pains. This is due to your body subconsciously fighting against the foreign mana trying to enter your body. Do not worry. It will be over very quickly}
Soon after, the pain subsided, leaving Cain a quivering mess on the ground.
"So don't drink the blood. Got it."
He gathered the metal needles of the Metal Spiked Beast. He used his {Metal Creation} ability to create a small knife, which he used to skin the hide off the mutant wolves.
While he was busy, he was attacked by a few alien monsters and mutated beasts that met their end with his swift blade. He didn't encounter any humans during this period.
As soon as he was done, he headed deeper into the forest in search of more prey.
***
The sky began taking on an orange hue, indicating that dusk was coming. Cain began heading back to the department complex as soon as he noticed this. He was satisfied with his gains today. From his hunts, he had managed to gather a lot of materials from the creatures he had slain. He had also leveled up to level 10.
***
Name: {Cain Lenosi}
Level: 10.
Strength: 78(10).
Agility: 89(15).
Stamina: 21/52.
Vitality: 37.
Defense: 25.
Control: 4.0.
Perception: 1.2.
HP: 900/3,700.
MP: 500/1,250.
Magic: 25.
Skills: Golden blood, Mana Blade, Lightening Edge, Blade Mastery Lvl. 1, Burst Step, Metal Creation Lvl.1
Titles: Nil
Free attribute points: 5.
System points: 330.
{Inventory}. {Shop}
***
Walking forward, he noticed that the artificial forest that surrounded the complex seemed to have more life within.
Before the arrival of god Ash on Urbus, the artificial forest was created to serve as a source of natural beauty on the campus. The forest was populated by many wildlife animals that wouldn't attack the people.
There were several artificial forests just like this one on the campus grounds.
Now, the entire forest was a death trap. All the animals had mutated into terrifying bloodthirsty mutants. He didn't want to stay in the forest at night, as his senses would be lower, and he might fall prey to an ambush. He wasn't about to take that chance.
He could be crazy, but he certainly wasn't stupid. Hunting in the middle of a forest filled with powerful mutant creatures was the definition of stupidity.
Within a few minutes, he arrived in front of the main building he had left earlier in the day. He noticed that the bodies that littered the courtyard were no longer there.
They had either been eaten by either the monsters or mutant creatures, or they had been taken care of by the humans in the building.
The bodies in the hallways were also cleaned up. The blood on the tiles, the broken glass, and the pieces of debris had all been cleaned up as well. He heard some chatter coming from the main hall but chose to ignore it. He had better things to do right now...
He headed up the stairs to his classroom. Upon getting there, he noticed that the corpses of his dead classmates as well as the first monster he had killed were no longer there. The place was still a mess though, so he quickly got a chair to sit on.
'System, I wish to purchase information on the god Ash.'
Cain wasn't comfortable with being ignorant. He had a feeling that information on God Ash was something that would be very vital to him. Plus, he had managed to gather the required system points.
After an entire day of hard work, he had gathered the five thousand system points needed to purchase the information.
{Purchase successful...}
{Retrieving information...}
{Successful....}
{Information on the Forceful Evolution of
Urbus acquired}.
{Eons ago, there was a great war between the Celestial race in the highest of heavens. When a member of either of the two members of this race falls, grey-colored residue will be left behind. This residue in the form of grey-colored ash-like material is produced from the highly concentrated energy within a Celestials body}.
{When they die, their bodies get burned by their {Sacred flames}, reducing them into ashes that will be scattered across the boundless universe. {Sacred flames} are the power bank of the body of a Celestial. They serve the main function as the heart blood of the Celestial. It is essentially where all the energy for the execution of their powerful skills and spells is gotten from. It is the source of their endless power source, as it will not go out unless the Celestial falls}.
{After a Celestial dies, the remnants of their {Sacred flames} will engulf their entire being and reduce it into {God Ash}, which contains a tremendous amount of energy.
{God Ash} from fallen celestials were scattered into the void by cosmic winds after the battle. These ashes would travel through the void, attracting devil races that dwell deep in the void until they encountered a planet with life on it}.
{These ashes will spread out onto these worlds, changing their fundamental structures, and introducing them onto the path of evolution. The creatures that inhabit these planets will all undergo various levels of change, down to the genetic level. Even the entire geography of said worlds can be affected by the chaotic influx of energy}.
{However, although the corpse of a Celestial is thoroughly disintegrated when they die, the only thing that these heavenly flames can't burn are the legacies these beings leave behind when they die. These legacies can only be acquired by those chosen by fate...}
Upon listening to the system's narration, Cain started to come to terms with the fact that his entire world had started to change, and the ones he had seen so far were just the tip of the iceberg...
***
As he got lost in his thoughts, Cain gradually began dozing off. He tried to fight it for some time, but eventually gave in, as his eyelids began to feel like lead.
He suddenly felt like his head was spinning out of control. When he came to, he realized that he was no longer in his room.
He stood on a barren piece of land that was floating in a dark void, and in front of him floating in the void as well, was the figure of a colossal being. It was a huge golden western-style dragon. Cain could only see its head, as the rest of its body was way too big.
He couldn't even see the entire expanse of its wing span when it stretched them out.
This massive entity just happened to be staring right at Cain with its massive eyes. One of its eyes was as dark as midnight, while the other was pale white like bleached bones.
Suddenly, Cain heard a voice that seemed to resound directly in his very soul...
"HAHAHA... YES, IT WORKED! TIAN, YOU OLD FOOL! I'LL BE COMING FOR YOUR HEAD REAL SOON! HAHAHA..."
The massive golden dragon appeared to be having a good time laughing at itself and cursing someone named Tian at the same time. As the voice of the dragon was quite loud, Cain found himself developing a headache after some time, and couldn't bear it anymore.
"Pipe down a little, you giant lizard! You are going to fry my brain if you keep being so loud!"
"AHEM! SORRY!" the golden dragon asked after reducing the intensity of its voice a little.
In that instance, the giant golden dragon dematerialized. Suddenly, a humanoid appeared in front of Cain taking the place of the golden dragon.
Standing in front of him, this man had to be the tallest person he had ever seen in his life, standing at over 8 feet tall. His face and body were perfectly chiseled and looked like he had been sculpted from polished bronze.
His eyes however, were the same shade of black and white that the golden dragon had, which allowed Cain to easily guess the identity of the person standing in front of him. Feeling a little intimidated, Cain asked in a voice devoid of any fear as he raised his guard;
"Who are you?... What do you want from me?... Why have you brought me here?!" Cain fired question after question at the man.
"Hold your horse boy! I'll answer your questions, but first, have a seat." the man let out a chuckle and proceeded to materialize a table and a set of chairs for the both of them.
As Cain didn't want to seem rude, and also wanted to get this over with quickly, he quickly sat on the chair offered to him, while the man sat on the other one.
"You seem to be taking this rather well." the man said amusedly, as from the first time since sighting him till now, there had been no sign of confusion or fear from Cain.
"Well... Let's just say that after all that's happened today, I can't bring myself to be any more surprised..." Cain sighed tiredly.
"Now then, Let me introduce myself, I am the golden dragon, Ashur." the man introduced himself, grinning from ear to ear.
"Now that we got that out of the way, I'd like to ask you a question, Cain.,"
"Go ahead."
Cain had not noticed it earlier, but all his wariness from earlier had suddenly vanished like a thin cloud after only exchanging a few sentences with him.
"Have you seen me, and I'm not talking about this me, but the other me, let's say in a dream before?"
Just as Cain wanted to deny it, he recalled the dream he had the other day at school, where a figure appeared to be killing off a large number of enemies surrounding him. Realizing that that could have been the man standing in front of him, he was filled with awe as well as a sense of respect.
"Yeah. I think so?" Cain replied while trying to recollect the entire details of that dream.
"Good... HAHAHA!"
"Finally. Tian just wait. I'm(We) are coming for you!." the man said in a voice full of hatred and madness. His eyes which couldn't show any of his emotions started giving off an eerie glow, and purple-colored flames flashed at his fingertips. Not knowing what was happening, Cain just chose to observe in silence.
After calming down, the golden dragon turned to Cain and said to him in a deep voice;
"I can't tell you much now, but I promise that later in the future, you will understand."
"All you need to do as of now is to get more powerful. Gather powerful and trustworthy comrades who will accompany you on your journey to the peak, however, remember to always stay vigilant." the man said to him in a serious tone.
Cain didn't know why, but he felt like he could trust this man. Even though his eyes looked terrifying, he could sense a hint of familiarity in them.
"In the meantime, let me give you something to help you."
The man proceeded to wave his hand, as an ancient-looking tome appeared in his hand. He tossed it towards Cain and said in a profound voice,
"This is a tome that contains basic elementary knowledge on the universe power systems, as well as basic knowledge on elementary runecraft and arcane treasured creation. Use it well".
He passed the tome towards Cain, who grabbed it with both hands.
"Alright. I think it's time for you to depart. When you wake up, you will have received my legacy. Although it will be wise to follow the path that I have created, remember, there are many more roads to the power available for you, and it is up to you to discover them. You might even manage to become even stronger than I was, as your body is perfectly suited as an elemental conduit...."
Towards the end of his sentence, the man had already started rambling to himself and had completely ignored Cain.
"Ahem....!" Cain let out a cough to catch Ashur's attention.
"Oh! sorry, got carried away. Is there anything you want to ask before I send you on your way?"
"Would you mind telling me the main reason why I am here? What do you want me to do for you in exchange for this?" Cain asked while pointing towards the book he now held in his hands.
"You don't have to worry about that for now. All you need to know is that you have to get stronger quickly, as there will be more surprises for you. The sooner you get stronger, the sooner you will find out"
The man said in a manner that stirred Cain's curiosity. Even though he knew he was baiting him intensional, he didn't care, as getting stronger was on his to-do list anyways.
"Alright, if that will be all, be on your way then!"
The chairs and table instantly disappeared, leaving only Cain and the man on the barren piece of land. The man walked up to Cain and poked his forehead with his index finger.
Suddenly, as if he had been thrown into a whirlpool, he felt that same dizziness sensation and immediately blacked out.
When he came to, he realized that he had appeared back in the room he had been in previously...