God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 1151: Ore Veins in the Sky (2).

Cain looked at the blades currently stored in his inventory. That was enough to test the concept, but nowhere near enough for the full-scale version he envisioned.

For that, he’d need hundreds more. Maybe even a thousand or more.

Which brought him back to the fundamental problem— Materials.

He’d already used up most of what Pudding had gathered from the underground. There was enough left for maybe another dozen blades, but after that he’d be tapped out.

Cain sat back down and closed his eyes, reaching out mentally to the {Amethyst Silkworm} resting in the Beastmaster’s Subspace.

The connection formed slowly, images and sensations filtering through rather than coherent thoughts. Pudding wasn’t capable of thinking in human language the same way Ruby was, but the emotions and intentions came through clearly enough.

’More materials?’ Cain projected.

Pudding’s response was immediate. A sensation of emptiness came through.

Nero clicked his tongue. The underground veins had been stripped clean. It was probably a smaller deposit she had found anyway.

Now, there was nothing left worth gathering.

Cain frowned.

Suddenly, there was other sensation, this one more complex. Pudding showed him an image, or rather, its impression of an image.

The floating rocks. The ones drifting through the sky above them, bleeding into the nothing in the form of arching spires connected to the ground.

Cain’s eyes widened as he saw rich veins of ore running through them like ribbons. Concentrated deposits of those strange glowing stones.

More materials than he could possibly use.

He mumbled a curse under his breath.

If he understood properly, then the mother load was high up. Very high up. In the most dangerous part of this universe’s environment.

Cain opened his eyes and looked at the sky. The floating islands and rocks drifted in their elliptical orbits, held aloft by forces he still couldn’t fully understand.

Between them, streams of Chaos Ether created visible currents of energy, shifting and flowing like rivers in the air.

And occasionally, the Starfall. Those chunks of rock breaking loose and plummeting to the ground with catastrophic force were most likely going to be a safety hazard.

Flying up there would be dangerous. Stupidly dangerous, especially given his current physical condition. One wrong move, one unexpected energy current, and he’d be smeared paste.

But the jackpot was up there. Everything he needed to begin the creation of the new and improved combination of the {Armament Armory} and the {Falling Stars of Orion} skills.

Cain found himself grinning.

"For glory and for loot," he muttered.

Indeed, he had always been fond of putting his life in danger for those two, regardless of how much he tried to refute it internally. That was simply self-deception.

That much, he could admit at least.

It was the kind of thing idiots said right before throwing themselves into obviously suicidal situations.

But hell, when had that ever stopped him?

Cain found Hunter near the camp’s other side. He was hunched over a stone pillar, discussing something with a collection of Beastmen gathered around him.

From the looks of it, they seemed to be discussing patrol routes for the night. Such things were incredibly important after all.

Although Cain felt a bit guilty leaving such things all to others, he believed they appreciated his reliance on them.

Plus, he would rather not deal with such things if he could.

Hunter looked up as Cain approached, his enhanced senses probably detecting him long before he came into view.

He was silent for a moment. Then he huffed,

"You look like shit."

"Thanks. I feel like shit too." Cain gestured toward the command tent. "Got a minute? We need to talk." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Hunter’s expression shifted immediately,

"What the hell are you planning now?"

The impish grin on Cain’s face said it all.

The damned miscreant was definitely up to no good, Hunter could tell.

And he was not far off from the truth at all. Some would even say he was fairly accurate.

Cain snorted and waved him over. He turned over to the Beastmen who all had wry smiles on their faces,

"I’ll be stealing him away for now. Go on. Run along."

Hunter let out a sigh of resignation and turned to address the Beastmen before sending them on their way.

Then he turned to face the direction Cain had floated towards.

"What are you waiting for, damn it?!"

They found Steve inside the tent, hunched over a makeshift desk covered in papers and strange instruments. The researching mage looked up, blinking owlishly behind his heavy goggles.

Cain raised a brow,

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh! Cain! I was just analyzing some of the energy signatures from—"

Cain was completely uninterested. He interrupted him, pointing at the ceiling of the tent.

"I’m going up there,"

Steve paused, "You want to climb onto the tent? That doesn’t sound like a very good idea, but I guess you can do—"

Cain rolled his eyes,

"I meant into the sky. To harvest materials from the floating rocks."

Steve’s eyes lit up immediately. "Oh, Really?! That’s fascinating! Not a bad idea at all! How did you know there would be deposits up there? Wouldn’t that be incredibly difficult, even with the help of flying contracted beasts. The concentration of Chaos Ether at those altitudes must be—"

"It’s suicide, you idiots!" Hunter cut in flatly.

"Those energy currents will rip you apart. Not to mention Starfall, the unpredictable gravity fields, and whatever the hell else is floating around up there."

"Probably," Cain agreed. "But one of the reasons we engage in the third trial,nis to plunder resources. These could very well be the difference between life and death for us all. Besides, Pudding says that’s where all the good stuff are. The underground is tapped out. If I want to continue my project, I need to go up."

Hunter’s jaw tightened. "Then send someone else. You’re in no state or condition—"

"What are you, crazy? That’s a death sentence! I’m not that cruel."

Hunter gave him a look which Cain completely ignored.

"And no one else can communicate with Pudding to identify the right deposits." He shook his head.

"It has to be me, unfortunately."

"Then I’m coming with you."

"No."

Hunter frowned, "Why not?"

"I need you here," Cain said firmly. "If something goes wrong, if we get attacked while I’m gone, you’re the only one I can rely on."