God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

In the dark empty void that was unconsciousness, Cain once again saw his spirit.

Only, this time, there was much more clarity.

Because of its nature, {Spirit Sense} was similar to {Burst Step} in the sense that it didn't consume mana. Instead, it consumed Spirit to activate, although in rather minute amounts, almost negligible for his current self.

His spirit body was modelled in the same image as his physical body, but with many differences.

For one, his spirit body didn't have veins and arteries. Instead, it had Ley Lines that ran through the entire network of spirit threads.

Instead of a heart, it was his {Mana Heart}, now called {Mana Furnace}. The furnace in what he assumed would be the chest region of his spirit continued to move softly, pulling mana into his spirit and pushing it out. Mana that traveled through the hole in his spirit was lost to the dark void forever.

Then, there was the star embedded in his chest. It didn't take long for him to figure out what it was.

The Elemental Vault...

It was quite the sight. But it was not something new either way.

Floating in the void, Cain was momentarily at a loss for what to do.

Thanks to his inability to use his Ki, his passive regeneration was not enough to heal the damages, both internal and external, that he had sustained during the fight with the {Argent Amphithere}.

In short...

'It's not looking good.'

The fact that he was unconscious right now meant he could die. And although he would be able to come back, he really didn't want to go through it right now.

He frowned, 'In order to avoid death, I need my regeneration to kick in. But as long as I can't use my Mana, Ki or Demon Matter, that won't happen.'

'Which means...'

He turned his stare back to his spirit.

He sighed.

'Can I do it?'

The idea of mending his spirit by himself was one he had thought of only a few hours ago.

Not only was it risky, someone as inexperienced as he was could very well doom himself to death, or maybe a fate even worse.

It was like running a chemical experiment without having the proper knowledge, equipment, experience, and safety implements.

The odds against him were too great.

And yet, he found himself drawn to the idea.

Was it the allure of danger?

Or was it the burning desire he always felt to challenge himself unreasonably?

Perhaps the question was best left unanswered...

Cain's consciousness drifted closer to his spirit.

His idea had been, not to attempt reassembling his spirit, but creating something of a second soul, that would aid his original soul to weave strands of Spirit, the material his spirit was made of.

He had the idea down, but the execution was where he was stumped. After all, he knew what spirit was, but he didn't know how one would go about gathering it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It was an intrinsic property of the spirit. To gather what it was made of and weave them into itself to grow more resilient and voluminous.

'If it was Mana, then a simple mana gathering array would suffice. But mana and spirit are two different things entirely.'

He sighed to himself.

However, the dark void that surrounded him made sure no sound was made.

In the first place, he couldn't even sign because he was just a strand of consciousness floating before his own spirit.

Shaking his 'head', Cain continued observing his spirit, hoping to find an epiphany.

'Perhaps the secret is in the runes?'

He paused for a moment, then shook his heads,

'That is not possible. Even if it were, then my case would be even more helpless as I do not understand those runes at all. Trying to replicate them is also a suicidal endeavor.'

Cain sighed again, his frustration mounting.

Then he froze...

He looked at his spirit again, this time,.much closer...

'Wait a moment...'

{Spirit Sense} allowed him to dive beyond his physical body and see his spirit.

However, it also allowed him to see Spirit too.

'The skill is called {Spirit Sense}, not sight. That means...'

To sense was to perceive in all matters, not just to see.

Cain felt his consciousness tremble lightly.

He decided to give it a shot.

Instead of trying to use {Spirit Sense} to see only, he opened everything up, not just to see, but to feel and perceive as well.

It was like being struck by a bolt of lightning.

Theotes of Spirit that were drifting towards his spirit didn't seem ethereal anymore.

'It feels like... Air.'

Yes, air was the only way he could describe it.

It slipped through his fingers, but he could feel and perceive it.

'Incredible...'

The lightless dark void, was filled with these sparkling motes of light that was Spirit, all gravitating towards his spirit.

Cain concentrated.

'If I can sense it, maybe there is a way to direct its pull.'

After a few moments of trying, a change finally occurred.

Cain pushed his will out and tried to guide a more of Spirit towards him instead of his spirit. The mote of Spirit trembled, as though unable to decide whether to go towards his consciousness, or his spirit.

In the end, it gravitated towards his will.

Cain was stumped.

'So it doesn't only answer to spirits. It also answered to will as well.'

What was the difference between will and spirit? He had no idea. But if he had to guess, then it would be that his will, and correspondingly, his consciousness, both came from his soul. Something fundamentally different from his spirit.

And yet, for some reason, Spirit answered to it.

Ignoring the details for now, Cain tried the same maneuver on another. And then another. It worked.

Soon, he realized a problem.

He was gathering them way too slowly.

He frowned. To achieve his goal, he would have to gather Spirit, which he was now inclined to call Spirit Essence, far more quickly.

He glanced at his spirit floating in the darkness.

'Maybe I can try drawing runes with these motes of spirit essence I can gather.'

The motes of spirit essence were small. So small, that they certainly weren't enough to weave whole spirit threads together.

However, if it was to create a single rune or two, then he would only need a few, perhaps enough to weave half a thread's worth of spirit.

And so, Cain began painfully collecting all the mites of spirit essence he could get his hands on.

Of course, he knew time passed way slower in here compared to the physical world. He was grateful for the luxury of time, but he was not going to waste a single perceived second.

Finally, after an unknown, but lengthy period of time, he managed to gather enough motes of light. They swam and floated around him like eager spirits of light.

Taming them had not been easy, and if he lost concentration, they could very well fly away or into his spirit.

Taking a deep breath, Cain began trying to weave a rune of spirit.

He had plenty of experience drawing runes, but no experience at all in handling spirit. It was like trying to write with a pen when all he had done was write with chalk or charcoal all his life.

His first attempt was completely unsuccessful.

His second attempt was even worse.

His thrird attempt was slightly better, but ended in failure.

Cain sighed.

He has used up all the spirit essence he has gathered.

With a growing feeling of homelessness, he began gathering spirit essence all over again.

By attempt fifteen, he had finally figured out how to stop the spirit essence from flying away at every given chance.

At attempt fifty, he finally had some modicum of control over the wild spirit essence and could move them around relatively freely.

By attempt seventy, he had figured out how to turn the gathered spirit essence into something tangible.

And finally, at his hundred and tenth attempt, he formed his first spirit rune.

The rune was a simple rune. A rune of gathering.

Since the basis of the rune was spirit, it wouldn't be inclined to gather mana. Instead, it would gather spirit.

The moment he was done, the effects were immediate.

A few of the random motes of spirit floating and flying around in the void began gravitating towards the rune.

Cain could barely contain his excitement.

'It worked!'

But he wasn't done yet.

He didn't stop gathering more and more spirit essence even as the rune gathered as well.

Then, carefully, he gathered the accumulated spirit essence and drew another spirit rune of gathering.

And just like that's he repeated the cycle. Gather spirit essence, use the accumulated to create more runes. Over and over again, until he didn't need to do any of the gathering himself.

Very soon, a vast cluster of lights surrounded his consciousness.

They were the numerous spirit runes of gathering he had drawn, and the countless motes of spirit essence that gravitated towards them.

Cain grinned, or rather, the astral manifestation of his consciousness grinned,

"Now, the real fun begins..."

He was going to attempt to create a spirit weaving rune.