God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 943: Management and Opportunity (1).

Valestorm was situated right at the center of a vast empty land filled with spare ruins and wreckage that had surfaced with the disappearance of the Sandsea desert.

At the edge of this mostly wasteland, were several towers. Each tower was rather tall, as large as a {Greater Flame Devil}, in fact.

There were several of them, each separated by a large area of land, forming the circumference of the great ’wall’ that had been build.

On top each tower, was a large glowing blue stone, each one as large as a boulder.

These stones were {Erucidyle Crystals} gotten from the system; large catalysts that allowed for large-scale applications of mana.

They were not only powered by mana shards and cores, but also by gathering and absorbing some of the ambient mana in the air.

As such, the areas surrounding them had high density of mana.

At the bottom of each tower was a large magic circle, each one a node that connected all the towers together to create a large link, which in turn formed the enormous barrier.

The barrier, although not as powerful as the former Dome of Sands, was still very effective.

A marvelous feat of magical engineering, some would call it.

Within the boundaries of this wall, there were countless nodes; large buildings made of mostly stone that served not only as watch towers, but also transportation.

Each building was equipped with a spatial anchor that allowed for ferrying to other anchors. For some reason, after Abaloth’s death, the spatial stability within the city only had gone totally haywire. As such each node could only support teleport across relatively short distances.

However, compared to the effort of t would take to make the journey on foot, it was a very good alternative.

Valestorm itself had also undergone several changes. Most of the buildings were no longer remnants of the old world.

Instead, they had been transformed with a little bit of architecture and magic.

The streets themselves were rather neat. Most of the humans and demi-humans within the city were engaged in some kind of craft that they used to get by from day to day.

There were blacksmiths that performed repairs on weapons, seamstresses,, alchemists, and apocatheries on ever street and at every corner.

There were also more niche talents such as a fool juggling white balls at an intersection.

A bard singing tales right in front of a bar.

And even a few thieves slinking in and out of the shadows.

Over all, the world was healing and society was being reshaped in its own way.

Standing in front of a metalware shop, a man wearing a long black cloak, his face hidden, was bent slightly, inspecting the wares, perhaps curiously...

The owner of the shop had a wide smile on his face as he chattered away,

"That right there is second-hand equipment gotten from the Iron Beetle’s main warehouse. Not a single lie, will I tell you, my dear friend." The owner said boisterously, pointing an a curved sword with runic patterns on the hilt and edge.

It had a rather unimpressive luster and a plethora of hard to detect scratches and nicks along itself edge.

"Hm? If it is second-hand, shouldn’t it be cheaper than this?" The cloaked man said with a faint chuckle.

The owner grinned,

"Well, this blade has a story behind it, you see... Apparently, the previous owner of this blade... Is the leader of the Golden Asura. Cain, the Black Demon."

The cloaked man seemed to shift uncomfortably at the mention of that name.

And it was with good reason.

Every critter, beast, and human had heard the stories and rumors...

Of how just one human had singlehandedly brought the reign of the abhorrent Devils to an end, freeing them all from corruption’s tyranny.

Everyone had heard it.

It was the same person that has brutally killed Carrion and eradicated all of his stakes within the Iron Beetles.

What sort of human wmcould defeat the leader of all the Devils? The most evil of them all?

Certainly, such a creature could not be a regular human as themselves.

And so, the moniker of Black Demon, had been given to this fearsome, lofty character.

"So you are telling me this blade belonged to that guy?"

The owner leaned in and nodded,

"Yeah. Apparently, it was picked up by someone and stored off before being sold to the Iron Beetles. Its quality is rather insane, but because I like you, I’ve decided to give you a nice discount."

The man in the black tendrils cloak let out a sigh,

"I see..."

With a flick of a wrist, three mana shards, each one of the flame element, appeared between his fingers.

"How sure are you of this story?" The man asked.

The owner cleared his throat as he reached out his hand to grab the mana shards.

"It is certainly legit. I heard it from a dear brother of mine."

"Is that so... I will certainly love to meet this brother of yours." The man said as he laid the mana shards on the table. Then he picked the sword up.

The shop owner greedily snatched the mana shards and put them away.

"Hehehe. Pleasure doing business with you!"

The man in the cloak waved his hand and carried with sword and its sheath away.

As he walked down the mostly empty street, the man chuckled to himself.

"I’ve never even seen this sword in my life."

Of course, the man in the cloak was Cain.

The sword in his hand was decent, but that was about it.

It had also been used for some time, from what he could tell. Perhaps it was a weapon looted from a corpse, he had no idea...

As for why someone would be selling random weapons on the street, that was because while most of the Aether and Mutant Beasts had been wiped away, a few resilient breeds had managed to survive.

Such as the {Blister Rats}.

Especially the {Blister Rats}.

Since regular weapons wouldn’t do much against such things, regular people had become accustomed to keeping such weapons with them at all times.

In any case, the sword was not of much interest to him.

What had attracted his attention instead, was a small gem inlaid into the weapon.

With a satisfied smile, he threw the entire thing into his inventory.

He couldn’t help but drift back to the conversation earlier...

He let out a sigh.

Truly, he wasn’t that fearsome, right? Calling him a Demon was a bit of a stretch.

He stopped in his tracks for a moment and glanced up.

The sky above was suffused with scattered light so it was not too bright or too dark outside. Far better than the eternal darkness that had once been.

However, it was not as bright as it had been a few hours ago.

"Night is coming." He muttered to himself before letting out a sigh.

Placing one foot in front of the other, he walked down the road with measured steps.

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