God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.
Chapter 954 954: The Keys to Evolution (1).

A new day had come...

To enjoy the new day, of course, Cain had decided to leave Valestorm for a bit and head to Redscale Island.

How that he was mostly done with organizing the numbers, he could take a break from doing that and focus on other things.

The atmosphere on Redscale Island was rather bleak.

The skies were grey as usual, and the air was humid and cold. Almost to the point of being frigid.

The wildlife had evolved to properly assimilate to such temperatures and environments.

In turn, however, most of them had adopted strange and some times grotesque forms.

The forest within Redscale had expanded quite a bit. Not just in size, but also in the thickness and density of the undergrowth.

As he stood in the center of the clearing, Cain couldn't help but think to himself,

'If one gets lost in here, wouldn't that be bad?'

Just as the thought entered his mind, a rather unpleasant buzzing sound filled his ears.

'Hm? Could that be?'

He glanced up and noticed that a patch of sky had turned a fetid black.

He frowned then sighed.

The space around him ruptured and he disappeared.

"Dealing with those things right now would be a pain." He muttered to himself.

The {Steelhead Mayflies} had evolved into the {Blackskull Rotswarm}. A rather disgusting give mind entity consisting of billions of cat-sized flies that ruled the skies of Redscale's Forest. Individually, they were rather weak. But since it was nearly impossible to see a single one of them wandering about, they were one of the nastiest things around.

A local hegemon, if you could call them that...

In any case, the nasty buggers had become even more disgusting and annoying to deal with after their evolution.

They had black hard shells that were nearly impossible to cut through, and acid spit that could melt flesh and bones into a bloody puddle.

What was worse, if he dared to engage them in battle, it wouldn't stop until he had killed ever single one of them. He would literally be swarmed to death.

Such a fate was not one he admired.

And so, he had intelligently chosen to run away.

Some battles were just not worth fighting.

He dusted his clothes and fixed his expression.

The human settlement in Redscale had expanded quite a bit over the last few months.

Under Steve's leadership, it had evolved gradually into a true research facility. Looking at it now, Cain really doubted it was a part of this world.

The entire place was sealed behind an enormous magic barrier that removed its presence from the senses of Beasts. There was another barrier to protect it against spatial magic, although his anchor behind the barrier made it so he could freely go as he pleased.

There were several tanks and pipes running all around within the area both above and underground.

The place was hectic with people running around carting and carrying heavy equipment.

There were also numerous cages containing living, dead, and unconscious creatures, some of which he had never seen before.

Many of the people here wore special masks so it was difficult to know who was who, or what.

Cain raised a brow and turned around. One of the masked workers was approaching him.

"Hm?"

The masked individual stopped in front of him. A familiar voice reached his ears,

"It's just you, Cain. What are you doing all the way here?"

Cain raised a brow,

"Blaze? I could be asking you the same thing."

'He looks like he'd be more interested in hunting down Mutant Beasts and whatnot. Is he that interested in research and alchemy?'

"I'm here to assist... that person." Blaze said.

His voice didn't sound pleased at all.

'Ah. So that's it...'

Cain smiled wryly,

"You know, if he's using anything to blackmail you, surely it can't be worth it."

Blaze shook his head and patted his shoulder,

"You wouldn't get it. In any case, follow me. That madman isn't at the usual place."

"Is that so... Lead the way, then." Cain said with a chuckle.

Blaze nodded the spun on his heels and began walking towards a narrow path in between a set of single storey buildings.

Cain raised a brow,

"Why is everyone wearing masks and protective gear? It wasn't like this the last time I was here."

"Well, the last time you were here, there wasn't a poisonous gas leak. That damned bastard nearly killed us all!"

Cain's eyes widened,

"A gas leak?!"

Blaze sighed and nodded as he pointed at something up ahead,

"That thing is a stabilizer he's created with the help of Mljorra's Craftsmen. He calls it the {Poison God's Heart}."

Cain raised a brow and followed Blaze's pointed finger.

When he saw it, his face turned pale and a shiver ran down his spine.

"This... What the hell is that?!"

Blaze ran a gloved hand through his hair and let out a tired sigh,

"A fusion of magical engineering and alchemy, he calls it. In reality, he harvested it from a rather enormous abomination that tried to attack a month and some change ago. Cut its freaking heart out and tinkered with it to produce that thing."

Blaze's eyes narrowed,

"Although it looks unholy, it has been working wonders so far. Still, just to be safe, we wear these masks and protective suits now."

Cain grimaced and clicked his tongue.

The thing Blaze had pointed to indeed did look like a heart.

However, it looked like the most grotesque and twisted heart he had ever seen.

It was suspended between two pillars that he could see had once been while. Now, they had turned black.

It was secured with chains, with pipes and tubes of varying length and width jutting out of it.

The 'Heart' in question was grey with a strange metallic lustre. One he didn't think he had ever seen before.

'That guy... Just what the hell is he doing here?!'