God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The solemn breeze, carrying a hint of the ocean drifted across the shore.

The distant crashing of waves soaked Cain in a relaxed feeling as he stepped onto Gwendolyn.

He was immediately made aware of the resident evil spirit, the true master of the ship.

He smiled as he stared at the pale faced spirit woman with black, followed eye sockets,

'What, aren't you going to welcome me back?'

It had been some time since he had come back to his ship.

Although much hadn't changed.

The door to his room swung open,

"Boss, you're back?!"

Cain shrugged, "I am. And I will probably be staying for a while."

Haru grinned from ear to ear,

"Wonderful!"

Then he was shoved out of the way,

The rest of the smithing crew came forward to greet him energetically.

After they had gone through the motions, Cain motioned to Haru. Then he asked,

"How have you all been faring so far?"

Haru grinned,

"The beasts on the shore aren't that hard to deal with. Its those ones that dwell within the coves that are a hassle once they decide to come out for some fresh air."

Then he sighed, "Luckily, we've had either Hunter or Ignis deal with the more troublesome ones..."

Cain nodded in understanding...

City Z had been rather huge, and a decent portion of the City had stretched out to the shore to support maritime trade.

When the world had expanded however, the City had been pushed further inland, and the coast had widened significantly.

There was a large stretch of land and black rocks between the City itself and the shore.

Scattered across this large coastline were numerous coves that haf become the breeding grounds for various mutant creatures.

Because Gwendolyn was also seated on the coast, these mutant beasts, attracted by the delicious scent of human flesh would hardly be able to resist.

Cain gave Haru and his other men a glance. With one look, he was able to tell that they had all gained more than a few levels, and were already very close to reaching the acceptable level for Tier 1.

Cain nodded, "I'll go see Vince then."

Haru raised a brow, "That fatty? He refuses to leave the ship, boss. Only peeking his head out from time to time when he's not trying to get his dirty hands on one of the ladies."

Sensing the absolute disgust in Haru's voice was not hard at all, partly because he wasn't trying to hide it at all.

Cain chuckled then patted his shoulder,

"Alright, get back to business then..."

Haru nodded briskly before nudging the others. They left the room, giving Cain his much needed privacy.

He sighed.

Light swam through his fingers, and three strange looking items appeared. They were a few of the {Demons Eye} Cain had prepared beforehand.

He threw them into the air and they covered for a moment before vanishing from sight.

Of course, Cain could still see them. However, they wouldn't be seen by anyone he didn't want them to be seen by.

The range of the {Demons Eye} was rather large, so in a few seconds, he had scanned through the entire ship.

He quickly located his target.

Since he couldn't use spatial magic at the moment, he simply stepped out of his room and raced across the corridors of the ship.

Of course, his speed was far beyond what those on board could comprehend. All the were able to feel, was a rapid gust of wind.

In the blink of an eye, Cain arrived at Vincent's room door.

He considered barging in, but decided against it.

Instead, he gently tapped on the door with his knuckles.

An angry voice came from behind the door,

"What the hell do you want?! I'm busy! Go away!"

Cain's face turned dark.

He smashed his fist against the door,

"Open up, you bastard!"

There was silence, then the sound of feet tapping against the floorboards.

The door creaked open and Cain saw Vincent's head peak out.

He raised a brow, "Cain? When did you get back? Aren't you supposed to be in Vale-whatever it's called?"

Cain snorted, "I just got here and decided to pay you a visit. Won't you invite me in?"

Vincent's face contorted into an ugly smile,

"Give me a sec, would you?"

Cain's eyes narrowed, but he stepped back and shrugged, allowing him to shut the door.

Of course, Cain knew exactly what Vincent had been up to. That was why he had decided not to barge in.

'This bastard, always up to no good.'

He sighed, 'I wonder who else is engaging on such acts.'

None of them were kids anymore, so that much was to be expected. However, he still wondered how one could engage in such leisurely activities with disaster looming at every corner.

He sighed.

The door swung open, and a Beast woman with the furry ears and a tail gave him a curt bow before scurrying off, still adjusting her clothes.

Vincent peeked out of the gap she had left and gave Cain a grin,

"That... She was helping me with something."

Cain pushed past him and frowned.

Vincent's room was surprisingly well put together.

However, there was still a slightly musky scent left behind from his leisurely activities.

Seeing Cain's disgusted glare, Vincent smiled wryly,

"What? A man can't live anymore?"

Cain wanted to say something but decided against it. Instead, he decided to address the one thing that had caught his attention,

"What is that?"

Vincent followed Cain's gaze then grinned,

"Oh, that? Just a little something I've been working on."

Cain walked over to the only workbench in the room and stared at the pieces of metal scattered over.

From what he could see, it was mainly a chassis and the internal components of a gun.

But not just any gun; it was a magic gun. More precisely, a gun that seemed to be modeled after his own {Hands of Midas}.

Only, there were a few differences. For one, this resembled a sniper rifle more than a handgun.

However, its components and the runes that Cain could see at first glance were a bit similar.

He turned to Vincent,

"Since when did you start studying Runecrafting?"

Vincent shrugged, "I had Steve borrow me some materials he had. I'm not too proficient in it. Only know enough to replicate this much though."

He leaned in,

"You can probably tell, but this is my halfhearted attempt to reproduce your work. The guns you gave me are great, don't get me wrong."

Cain nodded, then shrugged,

"It isn't bad. However, you've got the runic combinations all wrong in that magic circle. If you were to trigger the Nexus right now with even the slightest strand of mana, it could blow up in your face."

Vincent sighed and scratched his head,

"These runs things are really difficult to understand, aren't they?"

A shady look entered his eyes as he gave Cain a glance.

A submissive smile made its way onto his face,

"Oh, mighty Cain! I request your aid! Only one as amazing as yourself can possibly fix this!"

Cain snorted, "Bootlicking won't do you much good."

He smiled, "Still, I can help you out. But you have to do something for me in return."

Vincent's smile evaporated,

"This... What do you want this time?"

Cain grinned, "I plan on going on an expedition to reach Level 199. I want you to join me."

Vincent's face soured,

"Eh? But we just reached Tier 1 like a few weeks ago. Why would you want to do that?"

Cain's smile disappeared and he sighed,
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"Something big is about to happen, and I want us to be prepared. So I will be having us reach Tier 2 as soon as possible. Those who have reached Level 99 will also take the opportunity to become Tier 1 as well."

Vincent fell silent.

Cain shrugged, "You can refuse if you want. But this opportunity won't come very often."

He gave him a side glance,

"You can only preserve your leisurely life with power. Remember this..."

Vincent scratched his head, "You really don't want to leave any way out for me, boss..."

Then he sighed, "Alright, you win."

Then he aggressively pointed his index finger,

"But! You have to make the gun for me before then! Otherwise, no deal!"

Cain chuckled, "Alright."

Then he walked over to the workbench and sat down.

He took a glance at the materials, then raised a brow,

"Hmm...these parts were made very well. Where did you get them?"

Vincent snickered,

"I had your minions craft them for me. Their service is surprisingly cheap."

Recalling the disgust Haru and the other hand when he mentioned Vincent's name, Cain quickly made his conclusion.

He sighed, "In any case, all the parts are here, and I assume you already know how to assemble them."

Although he was familiar with some of the parts, a decent portion, he had no idea what they were or what their purpose was.

Vincent proudly raised his chin,

"If you must know, I'm quite proficient in gun handling. I just need to get the runes right."

Cain nodded, then observed the runes covering the parts.

A whisper wormed its way into his mind.

"I see..."

He waved goodbye s hand and summoned his magic brush. Since he temporarily couldn't use mana, he attached a mana shard to the brush.

"Like I said earlier, the runic combinations are all messed up..." He said as he quickly got to work.