God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The gentle sound of the waves striking the ships hull pulled Cain away from his peaceful sleep.

His eyes fluttered open and he sat up.

A wave of vigor washed over him, driving away whatever residuals of sleep were left in the corners of his eyes.

He blinked again...

'I feel... different.'

His mind felt sharper, his senses even more so.

Most noticably, he could sense the mana around him with far more clarity than ever before.

'It must be because of the {Spirit Weaver} skill.'

He stared out the small window in the cabin, then activated the {Eye of Clairvoyance}.

The already clear world was lit up once more.

The darkness of Evernight that washed over the shore was rendered obsolete and then some.

He gasped, completely taken aback.

'I... I can see everything.'

Even if he couldn't, it sure felt like it.

This hadn't happened even when he had poured so mana stat points into his perception stat, so there was a much deeper explanation for this.

It wasn't as though his sight had improved, no.

It was more like he was on the fringe of peering right through the veil that covered the world.

To see through all of creation and gaze upon the true nature of things.

'How frightening...'

The feeling of having his mana comfortably circulate within him brought him relief.

He gently climbed out of bed.

Although he didn't need to wash up, he still felt the need to as he hadn't done so after they had come back from the Cove of Darkness.

However, there weren't a lot of options on board.

For one, although the ship came equipped with many things, sadly, plumbing was not one of them.

Water was procured using magical means, and most of the water gotten was used for drinking and cooking as drinkable water was still a rare commodity.

'I'll have to solve this issue when I get back.'

Feeling a presence suddenly appear in the room, Cain turned to face it.

A surge of negative emotions quickly filled his cabin, but Cain remained unperturbed.

He smiled lightly,

"You have a habit of arriving at odd times, don't you..."

The evil Wraith of the Drowned Pearl of the South Sea didn't seem bothered by his words.

Instead, it stared at him, not an emotion of her icy pale face, her hollow eye sockets leaking fetid, liquid darkness.

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The beauty of the wraith was like a nightmare. One had no choice but to fall into it.

Despite that, Cain knew he was safe for now.

Because they were under an agreement.

As for the exact details of this agreement, even he himself was not too sure.

The Spirit of Gwendolyn suddenly spoke,

"You have returned from your travels, Master. And it seems you come bearing new... Gifts."

He floated over slowly, circling around his body.

Cain shivered lightly,

'Damn, I can't get used to this...'

That feeling of cold dread slowly suffocating him in the presence of this evil spirit was not something to get used to in the first place.

He cleared his throat,

"What gifts?"

The gohst woman ignored his question and continued to float around him before settling right in front of his face.

Now, he could see and appreciate all of her harrowing beauty.

The overwhelming urge to tear out his eye sockets just so he wouldn't have to gaze upon her features boiled within him, but he fought it back.

Seeing this, the Spirit of Gwendolyn furrowed her brows then leaned away,

"The embers of Divinity within your soul burn brighter since the last time we met."

Her voice was cold and uncaring,

"It seems you might bear a fate greater than the previous owner of this vessel."

Cain raised a brow, then recalled the story of what happened to.tjw previous owner.

The memory was clear in his mind.

A small smile crept onto the ghostly face of the evil spirit. Cain shivered.

'He died. A gruesome, horribow death.'

Cain shook his head and smiled,

"Don't worry. I won't be dying soon."

The ghost nodded, "I see."

The smile on her face turned several shades darker,

"The previous owner of this ship was a Tier 4 being. If you believe curses are so easy to suppress, your gravestone has already been marked."

Cain shrugged, "He died because he was incapable. I, on the other hand, am the complete opposite of that."

He paused for a moment,

"I'll leave a few mana cores behind to keep things running. I won't be returning for a while."

The ghost's eyes twitched,

"A master who abandons his ship..."

Cain could tell the wicked wraith was a bit displeased hearing he would be leaving again so soon.

He smiled, "Don't worry. I shouldn't take too long this time."

'I hope...'

Shaking his head, he was about to say something when a knock came from the door.

He paused, then walked to the door and swung it open.

Blaze stood at the door, a complicated look on his face.

He tilted his head to look behind Cain. Seeing nobody in the room,the look on his face turned from curiosity to concern,

"You... Are you okay?"

Cain turned around slightly and saw the spirit with a barely noticable mischievous smirk on her face.

Then, she disappeared.

Cain sighed tiredly, then gave Blaze a wry smile,

"Sure. I'm good for the most part."

Although Blaze expression showed he didn't believe him one bit, he simply nodded in acceptance.

Cain looked him over, then frowned,

"No, I should be the one asking that question. Where the hell have you been, a warzone?"

The armor Blaze wore was broken and dented in many areas. The steel luster of the armor's plates were also stained with a deep purple liquid.

Blaze looked down at himself, then shrugged,

"It's blood. From some strange variant of mutant beasts populating further inland. Don't worry, we are dealing with it."

Blaze cleared his throat,

"But that's not why I'm here. Can we talk inside?"

Cain nodded and stepped away from the door, allowing Blaze in.

Cain furrowed his brows.

Seeing this, Blaze rolled his eyes and dismissed his armor, leaving only his undergarments on.

At least these ones were clean, Cain thought to himself.

He sat down as well.

Blaze went right to the point,

"Frankly speaking, we are making good progress."

"Although we haven't raided any major mutant beast nests, we have cleared hundreds of packs. We have also unearthed a lot of useful stuff, as much as we could get our hands on that is still salvageable."

Then he sighed,

"Now comes the issue..."

Cain listened to him carefully.

Blaze tapped his arm lightly with his fingers, a frown on his face,

"We need better weapons, armor, and more ammo."

Cain raised a brow,

"You mean..."

Blaze nodded, "Demand isn't meeting supply. We kill and harvest a lot of materials from the mutant creatures everyday. In return, our blades get dull, and our bullets are used up. I believe Hunter and the others are facing the same problems."

He stared Cain right in the eyes, as though to say

' feel like you want us to get things done, but you aren't considering what the process will take.'

And frankly, he hadn't been. At least until now...

Cain huffed and was silent for a moment.

"What Level are you right now?"

Blaze raised a brow,

"Level 197. Why?"

Cain nodded,

"Then, what's the average Level of fighters we have?"

Blaze thought about it for a moment before answering,

"I can only speak for my teams, so I'd say somewhere around Level 150. For the Blessed with no access to the system, I'd say their ability level is probably around Level 100..."

'A rather accurate assessment...'

Cain was satisfied with those numbers.

Cain nodded, "Alright. I'll get you what you need. However, I need something from you as well."

Blaze raised a brow,

"And that would be?"

Cain's eyes turned serious,

"I need the average Level to rise to 190 in two weeks."

Blaze shook his head immediately,

"Impossible."

Cain shook his head, "It's not impossible of you challenge the big nests, is it?"

Blaze frowned deeply,

"Do you know what you are suggesting?"

Cain nodded grimly, "I do."

Blaze's frown turned dark,

"The you should also know the implications. Our death tolls would skyrocket if we do something like that."

Cain relaxed into his seat and smiled,

"Not if they go in prepared. Like i said, I'll get you new armor, weapons, and more bullets. Hell, I'll even make them better than the old ones."

Blaze shook his head,

"Even with that, we will still be severely undermanned."

Blaze sighed and rubbed his temples,

"I heard about your recent... adventure. Seeing as you are back here in one piece, I can only assume it went well, which means you should be aware of the situation, Cain."

Cain nodded, "I am very aware. It will be dangerous, but doable."

Blaze looked up and stared into Cain's eyes.

Seeing that same mysterious flame burning, he couldn't help but chuckle wryly,

"Alright, spill it. What do you have planned now?"

Cain grinned, "And here I was thinking you'd never ask."

Cain cleared his throat,

"If we don't have enough men, then we'll just have to get more, no?"

Blaze raised a brow,

"How so?"

Cain shrugged, "It's rather simple, really. I'll hand out an invite."

Blaze was even more confused,n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

'An invite? To who?'

Suddenly, the pieces aligned in his head. His eyes widened,

"You mean?"

Cain calmly nodded,

"It's good to see you understand. Then, why don't you accompany me back to Valestorm..."