God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Steve fell silent, calmly staring at Cain.

After some time, he chuckled,

"Your goals are nice and big, Cain. I like that a lot. Makes me want to follow behind you even more."

His eyes narrowed, "Still... They will involve a lot of investments, if you catch my drift. It will cost us a lot."

Cain nodded calmly, "That was the goal since the beginning."

He stared down at his cup,

"If we can purge the City of the Devils and rebuild it, then we can make it our own."

Steve sighed, "The end goal is to purge our world of the Devils and find a way to stabilize it once again. Am I right?"

Cain nodded. Steve shrugged,

"I see. So what do you need? You want me to rally the troops?"

Cain grinned, "That's exactly what I want you to do."

Steve frowned, "And how do you plan on getting us all there in time? I thought you said it was urgent?"

Cain's grin widened,

"How do you think I got here?"

Steve's eyes widened, "Don't tell me your spatial magic has ascended to such realms, has it?"

Cain chuckled, "Just get them ready."

Steve finally relented with a nod,

"To think you have managed to rise so high. What have I been doing with my life all this time?!" He lamented.

Cain smiled wryly,

"Aren't you busy with your potion making stuff?"

Steve's head snapped up,

"It is called Alchemy."

Cain raised his hands in mock surrender,

"Sure, sure."

He stood up,

"If you can,.make as many potions as possible. We are going to need them. Also,.do you have any idea how to counter a phenomenon that drains vitality? Let's just say it is caused by a God of Death..."

Steve raised a brow,

"That seems oddly specific, doesn't it..."

Cain remained silent. Steve sighed.

A serious expression appeared on his face as he pondered,

"Well, considering what vitality is, then I don't think countering such a thing will be easy. It certainly cannot be countered with potions, if that is what you have in mind."

Cain sighed, then turned to walk out of the room,

"I see... Then don't bother about it."

Steve raised his hand, stopping Cain in his tracks,

"Hold on. There might be another way to go about it."

Cain's eyes widened slightly,

"Really?"

Steve nodded, then explained,

"What you are be referring to, might be an adverse effect of the Celestial's Domain. Countering it should work either of two ways;

One is manifesting the influence of a portion of another Celestial's Domain within the aforementioned Domain. Another way I can think of is to simply prevent your vitality from being siphoned."

Cain sat back down,

"How? Is that really possible?"

Steve tapped his chin,

"In theory, maybe. In reality, it might be a bit more complicated than that. Perhaps a charm or a magic item might help. Or perhaps one can develop a skill or spell to help. It can work anyway."

Steve smiled at him,

"Does that answer your question?"

Cain nodded then chuckled,

"You're good."

Steve guffawed, "Of course I am. Months of studying magic theory pays off, after all!"

***

After bidding Steve farewell and leaving him to his own devices, Cain walked along the corridors of the ship in silence. Despite being a sailing vessel, the interior of the ship wasn't cramped at all. The corridors were high and wide.

The dark wood interior of the ship gave the entire thing a rustic vibe, and the dim illumination added a candy eerie touch.

Remembering the dark history of the vessel kept him on edge. The ghostly woman that was the true master of the ship usually didn't show herself to him, but he could feel her presence always.

She was like a god; casually watching, but never interfering.

His thoughts wandered for some time before, he eventually got back to his personal space.

The sound of metal striking against metal filled his ears as he stepped into the {Draconic Blast Furnace}. Haru and the others were busy working at fixing armor and weapons, as well as creating new ones as well.

Haru noticed him almost immediately.

"Boss! We have acquired the materials!"

After exchanging pleasantries with the other crafters, he took a deep breath,

"Then you all can leave. Take a break for today."

They were surprised. Haru frowned,

"Boss, there is no need to say that. We aren't tired at all!"

The others nodded their agreement.

Cain smiled, "I know that. But right now, I will be using the forge, so it is out of order for the time being."

A look of understanding flashed in his eyes,

"I see."

Although he seemed a bit disappointed.

Cain chuckled, "What are you looking so down about? I will still be needing your help."

One of the other crafters, his face covered in soot grinned widely,

"What will you have us do, Boss!"

Cain cleared his throat, "For now, just go rest. I need some time to prepare and gather my thoughts."

Once they left, Cain settled down on a seat.

There were countless materials laying down in piles all over. Cain could guess these were the materials he had asked them to provide for him.

Cain smiled to himself, 'Not bad at all.'

The materials were of decent quality, with some of them even exceeding his expectations.

However, these materials weren't going to be the star of the show today.

He closed his eyes.

Space around him trembled, and inna split second, he was gone.

***

Somewhere along the shoreline...

Cain jumped out of a torn rift in space.

At the same time, the ground beneath him trembled.

A giant pink abomination sprouted out of the ground.

It's abominable maw was filled with numerous rows of teeth, and its pink flesh seemed soft and ductile, but it was infact very tough and defensive.

Cain grinned as he stared at this beast. Surprisingly, the beast didn't have any bloodlust directed at him. It almost seemed extremely fond of him for some reason.

Walking closer to Pudding, Cain put his hand on it. It was an abominable worm, the spawn of a disgusting Aether Creature.

However, he was now the master of this beast. It did his bidding, so it didn't seem at all disgusting in his eyes. In fact, he thought the creature was rather cute.

'You've grown quite a lot, Pudding.'

It was quite a lot bigger than the last time he had seen it. Nor only that, but it now had a set of deep purple metal plates across its back. A crown of spikes crystalline spike had grown on its head and along its sides, making it seem even more terrifying.

'Very pretty.'

It wasn't as intelligent as Ruby, but it could understand his intentions.

It made a squealing sound and wriggled cutely in delight...

It wormed its body the rest of the way out of the ground, settling down on the hard, black rocks that made up the entirety of the shoreline.

"Alright! Let it out!"

A rumbling sound came from the stomach of Pudding.

***

{Amethyst Silkworm}: Tier 1, Level 100 (Special).

Strength: 15,500.

Agility: 7,450.

Defense: 9,900.

HP: 7,550,000.

MP: 455,000/455,000.

Spirit: 5,000/5,000.

Skills: Natural Harvester, Acid Spit, Almighty Consumption.

{Natural Harvester}: The Amethyst Silkworm has the ability to devour, store, absorb, and digest magic gems, stones, and metals it has excavated from the earth.

{Acid Spit}: Allows the Amethyst Silkworm to easily melt through all sorts of thick rock strata in search of magic gems, stones, and metals.

{Almighty Consumption}: This creature can absorb the properties of the things it has eaten.

***

The ability Cain truly valued was the {Natural Harvester}, particularly the storage aspect of the skill.

With a loud burp, tens of tones of material was ejected from Pudding's maw.

Cain's smile widened as he stared at the items below.

***

{Lunar Steel}: (Epic)

Description: A light, ductile material forged under the influence of perpetual moonlight. Possessed with the spirit of the moon, it has the special trait of conducting non-elemental mana with little to no resistance.

{Blood Obsidian}: (Epic)

Description: A special rock polluted with the power of vitality, so much so, it hungers for more. Possesses the ability to absorb blood, enhancing its characteristics.

{Earth Gold}: (Epic)

Description: Enriched in the depths of the earth, possesses an incredible amount of metal essence.

(Uriu}: (Mystical)

Description: A strange metal of unknown origins, possessing even stranger unknown magical properties.

{Ice Meteor Core}: (Epic)

Description: Magical stone containing a measure of cosmic frost, capable of freezing all things.

{Malefic Eindbane}: (Mystical)

Description: Mysterious metal with an abnormal affinity to the darkness element.

***

Using the {Eye of General Observation}, Cain was able to pick out the most prevalent of the materials and have an idea of what they were.

'These materials are incredible.'

Cain stared at the ground,

"There might be plenty more just waiting to be discovered and gobbled up by you, Pudding." He muttered to himself, gently rubbing the soft pink flesh of the giant worm.

Because of the special acids Pudding excreted, the metals were already processed, so he didn't need to do any purification himself. He could use them as they were.

Placing them into his inventory, he tapped Pudding's head lightly. With a squeal, the creature dive right back into the ground, leaving nothing but a seemingly bottomless pit behind.

Cain let out a breath of cold air.

"Time to go create a new weapon."