God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 1128: A Fundamental Change in Who I Am.

The basis of magic in the world was runes.

There were as many runic languages as there were the different fields and studies of magic, which was rather close to infinite.

However, for all intents and purposes, there were more common runic languages and other obscure ones.

The higher one’s Tier was, the greater the power of the runic language they could learn. A Tier 2 being could not learn Tier 3 runes. As such, they could not create spells that were of the same nature as Tier 3 spells.

It was due to a fundamental difference in nature.

Of course, there were anomalies— incredible, once in a lifetime geniuses that could bridge the gap between Tiers. But they were rather rare, even in the vast universe.

As Cain stared through his list of spells and magic-based skills, he realized that most of them were still grounded in the nature of lower Tiers.

While the {Infernal Celestial Arts} was a skill that could constantly improve, the weaker spells in the series, such as {Flame Orb}, which served as the foundation for the other spells, was still made up of low tier runes.

In other words, it was weak when compared to the things he had to face. But that was alright, because the spell series had been constantly improving. All he needed to do was tweak it a bit.

However, spells like Infernal Wings, Wind Weaver and Golden Halos were far too weak for his current Tier, and perhaps even future Tiers. Very soon, they would either be forgotten due to their obsoletion, or he would have to make them grow.

He preferred it be the latter.

But how was he supposed to do that?

If runes were the foundations of all magic, them magic circles were the building blocks. Each one was a combination of magic runes, symbols and glyphs to create a strange resonance that aligned with the Mana flow patterns.

By advancing the runes that made up these building blocks, he could improve the the magic circles, which in turn, would improve the quality of the spells.

However, doing so was easier said than done.

After all, he couldn’t just make up these advanced runes and magic circles from his head.

No. Magic, despite how strange and enigmatic it was, followed strict rules and guidelines. There was the geometric alignment of the runes, array formation, and even something as basic as tuning the runes to resonate with the local mana flow patterns.

They made up the very foundations of magic.

However, he was no longer a beginner mage.

No.

He was now a {Warlock}. An entity that could make use of magic far more deeply and intimately.

It also meant he had a lot of studying to do.

With a sigh, he sifted through his inventory before picking out all the books and tomes he needed.

Most of them, he had taken shamelessly from Azazel.

Seeing that they were so useful to him even after so long had gone by, he was even more pleased with himself for stealing them.

With his current knowledge of magic and runes, it would take him quite a while, perhaps a week and then another week to complete his adjustments to all his spells and magic-based skills.

But regardless of if he was done or not, by the end of the week, he was going to be attempting the third Trial.

***

The sky was a reddish, purple hue, with streaks of light blazing in the distance.

The sun was rising, about to make another journey across the sky.

Of course, no ok me below the grey clouds of God Ash would know this.

No.

Beneath those clouds, there was only dreary stillness and a stark lack of colors.

It was sad and soulless.

Walk-in straight to the East of the Crimson Dome of Blood, the now much smaller procession of humans and human-adjacent beings would be stepping foot right onto the edge of the empty wasteland th rest of the world had become.

If the cities were in such a bad state, then the rest of the world had surely gotten worse.

Once upon a time, beasts had freely roamed Urbus. The world was filled with jungles, deserts, rainforests, savannahs...

All sorts of different biomes that could foster and fester wildlife.

Now, with the inception of mana, and the remains of dead gods pumped into this now much larger planet, it truly was left to the mind to wonder just what kinds of horrors must have begun to foster on which a world.

The world of Urbus was quite special, solely due to the incredible variety of life that had populated it even before the apocalypse.

Most other worlds within the wide universe contained far less variations in the spectrum of life on them.

Because of this characteristic, the limits of mutation and evolution were almost impossible to see.

To make matters even worse, the existence of Devils, and thus, Devil Essence, meant that most of these mutations were sure to be rather malignant and horrifying.

Cain slowly opened his eyes. He exhaled sharply and looked into the horizon. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

There was a thin line that separated the sky from the ground.

It was barren and filled with nothing but rocks.

If one were to turn to the right and begin walking for a long time, one would eventually come across the edge of Valestorm.

However, Valestorm was not their target.

Because from where they had just stopped, they would be able to reach their target destination the fastest.

Seated on the back of the {Longhorn Mare}, he was able to enjoy the sight quite well.

Even though the land was now barren and destroyed, it was still beautiful to look at.

Perhaps the desolation was where the beauty laid.

Or maybe he was just attracted to ruined things.

He sighed and shook his head.

Thinking about such things would do him no good.

Besides...

’I’ve made good progress.’

After the battle at the Dome of Blood, after making sure to leave a spatial anchor with Nockt, they had traveled for half a day longer.

The real goal of their trip was to begin the expedition into the badlands in search of other human settlements.

During this period of half a day, Cain had come to make quite a surprising amount of progress.

He had also come to make a few shocking discoveries as well...