God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.
Chapter 961 - 961: To See the Queen (1).

Cain furrowed his brows.

For the next phase of progress, he had determined that there were certain resources they couldn't do without.

One of them were the {Mana Stones}.

In fact, he had determined that they were just as important as mana shards and cores.

This was because {Mana Stones} provided the best way to store mana artificially.

Unlike other magical stones, gems and ores, {Mana Stones} could almost perfectly store mana without any loss over time or change to the mana's nature and attribute.

Thus, they were perfect for creating special weapons, items and equipment.

They were like the perfect mana batteries.

And their uses weren't limited to that.

Despite all this, they were rather rare.

He had not hesitated to spend some money to purchase an entire scrap weapon just because it had contained a fingernail sized {Mana Stone}.

Cain still had his brows furrowed, unsure of what to do.

He was certain, however, that he had to do something.

The {Mana Stones} were just too important of a resource to give up.

'Still. I would like to avoid conflict as much as possible.'

His brows creased together even more, creating a rather terrifying frown on his face.

Seeing Cain's expression, Steve couldn't help but fell a bit uneasy.

"Still, that isn't the end of the world, right? We managed to scavenger a few {Mana Stones} here and there from other areas of the island. Granted, those areas are a bit more dangerous than the Redscale Colony."

"Have you tried speaking with the Ant Queen?"

Steve frowned and nodded,

"I have. But they said she wasn't willing to see any humans at the moment."

Cain frowned,

'This might be bad.'

Cain couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive.

The feeling was a bit ominous too.

"I see." Cain said as he turned around and continued taking inventory of all the other items.

On the end, they finally reached the last circle closed to the ceiling.

There were a few magic lamps hanging from the stone ceiling, so there was a fair bit of lighting surrounding them.

On the highest, and of course smallest circular shelf, there were only five {Storage Boxes}.

Cain placed his hand on the first one.

In there was a singular mana core.

Mana Cores were simply much more condensed and voluminous forms of mana shards. They could also only be produced by Tier 3 and above entities.

So far, there had been only one Tier 3 creature defeated.

Abaloth, the Sightless Dark.

The Mana core was a rather enigmatic piece. A perfect orb as opposed to the rough edged mana shard.

In its center were swirling mists and dark shifting lights.

A Grade 8 space attribute mana core.

Abaloth had only been an Elite Grade being. Elite Grade at any other tier would be considered miserably weak.

Despite that, he was the strongest creature Cain had seen behind Abaloth and the Primordial Devils.

It had been even more powerful than the incomplete, descended Celestial, Balangol.

Under normal circumstances, there should have been no way he won against such a creature.

But that was the reality of it.

At the moment, he possessed the power to contend against a Tier 3 creature, although said Tier 3 creature was just a grade above normal, perhaps due to its affinity with space and time.

Granted, if Abaloth had lived longer, the Devil's grade would have definitely increased exponentially after some time.

It was a good thing that had not happened. If not, it would have been rather difficult to deal with.

Cain took a long look at the Mana core.

Then he pulled his hand away and focus on the next box.

Within this box was one of the most beautiful items he had ever seen. So much so, that he was taken aback for a moment.

Seeing this, Steve explained,

"That is one of the items we harvested from the {Deathmarsh Land Drake}."

It was a large orb that looked to be made of glass. Within the orb were beautiful leaf patterns.

The second he touched the box, Cain felt a deep aura of life flood through him. A certain feeling of warm comfort seeped through every pore in his body.

'This thing is dangerous.' Cain muttered. He felt like if he let it go on for too long, this warm, wonderful feeling would consume him completely.

Steve chuckled,

"I was in the creature's gall. I call it the {Bead of Life}. It produces very potent Nature attribute mana. I still don't know what to do with it, so its been here for a while now."

Cain hummed, "I see."

He let his fingers linger in the box for a moment longer before pulling it away.

He was about to place his hand on the next box when Steve suddenly stopped him,

"Before you touch that, I do have to give you a warning. This box here contains something quite poisonous and dangerous." Enjoying the story? Find more at NovelFire.

Cain frowned, but nodded.

"I will."

Steve nodded and said nothing more.

Cain carefully placed his hand on the box. This time, there was a different feeling.

The item inside this box was in the shape of an orb as well. However, it was much bigger than the former.

There were strands of muscle fibers connected to its other end as well.

There were strange patterns within it and on its surface. However, the thing that hit the hardest the moment he touched the box was the terrifying weakness that seeped into his bones.

Cain's eyes widened and his face went pale.

A trickle of blood ran down his nose.

Despite having a hundred percent resistance to the poison element, Cain unfortunately discovered such resistance was not absolute.

He staggered backwards with a groan.

"Are you alright?" Steve asked carefully.

Cain turned to him with a grimace on his face as he wiped off the blood.

"Damn it. You could have given me a better warning."

Steve's eyes narrowed,

"This is unexpected. I thought your body would be able to handle the poison better. Was I wrong?"

He paused for a moment and glanced deeper at Cain.

Cain felt lightheaded only for a little bit when he felt something strange happen. A strange heat passed through his body.

His face flushed red as he regained his balance.

He frowned, 'That was odd.'

This time, it was Steve's turn to be surprised.

"This is..."

Cain raised a brow and glanced at him,

"What is it?"

Steve calmed himself and shook his head,

"No. It's nothing."

Cain narrowed his eyes, a bit skeptical. But he decided to let it go.

He hesitated for a moment, then placed his hand back onto the {Storage Box}.