Aftermath (3)— Symbiotes.

As soon as Cain broke through the line of trees, he was greeted with the sight of Vincent inserting the muzzle of his rifle into the butt of a dying mutant wolf. Cain watched as without a second of hesitation, the sadistic fatty pressed down on the trigger.

BANG!

A cloud of blood painted the air crimson as the mutant beast was completely blown into pieces. The fatty took his time to wipe the blood off his face before he noticed Cain's appearance.

"Well look what the cat dragged in," Vincent said with a smile as he scratched the back of his head embarrassedly. The blood on his face and clothes contrasted greatly with the warm smile he had on his face.

'Damn... This guy is insane.' Although Cain internally questioned what he had just witnessed, he decided not to say anything or think too much about it.

"Where are the others?" Approaching him, Cain asked casually, almost as though he hadn't just witnessed the craziest thing that day.

'Who knew he would be into that kind of stuff...' Apparently, Cain had grossly misunderstood the fatty...

"Haha! They are all off chasing after a few strays that managed to escape. They should be back any moment from now though..." Vincent said nonchalantly as he stooped down to retrieve a bright red sparkling fire elemental mana shard.

"Tch! It's super hard to get water and lightning mana shards! Even though I've killed tons of these guys, I barely have enough of what I need." Vincent lamented as he toyed with it briefly before putting it into his inventory.

"That's probably because of the environment. The creatures that live within this forest are probably not suited for the water element." Cain explained.

"Oh? Do you think so? While they might just be a few, I did manage to gain some water mana shards though..." Vincent said a bit doubtfully.

Putting on a serious face, Cain explained why he thought like this...

"From what I've seen so far, the environment greatly determines the element the mutant beast possesses. Take, for example, lightning and wind elements that are only possessed by creatures that can fly, or live high in trees. While metal, earth, and fire for the ones on the ground. All the water elemental mana shards I've obtained so far are from either amphibious or just straight-up aquatic mutant creatures."

"Now that you mention it, that is the case. As expected of my boss." Vincent gave Cain a thumbs-up, which prompted Cain to roll his eyes.

Cain stared straight at Vincent, "Well, I can tell you knew that already." Cain already knew he couldn't trust a word that came out of the fatty's mouth, so he was always cautious around him.

Vincent stared back for a while before letting out a hearty chuckle.

"Hahaha! I guess you could say that."

He didn't break eye contact with Cain as he spoke, "You are very smart, so I assume you understand what is happening."

Cain raised an eyebrow slightly in confusion...

Regardless, Vincent continued, " Let me explain further... This world has gone to shit. It was in shit before, but now, things are even more fucked up. There are no other words I can use to describe it, so pardon my language. From what I can see, we need to work together if we want our chances of survival to increase."

All Vincent had said was the only reason why Cain decided he would join their group. He would have preferred to go on his own because he would be granted more freedom, but all he had witnessed, especially his encounter with the {Devil-eyed White Primate} had told him that having teammates would be more beneficial in the long run.

However, he decided to push some buttons to see what Vincent was going on about...

"I understand all this, but what does that have to do with me? What benefits will we gain if we work together? Aren't we already in the same group?" Cain asked.

"Well, as my boss, it is expected you take care of me if you know what I'm saying..." Vincent said with a wink.

'This guy...' Cain observed Vincent's mannerisms with narrowed eyes.

He was capable of changing expressions like underwear, which meant he wasn't a normal person. However, he didn't sense the same dark and malevolent aura he had noticed around Hunter and Evangeline.

'There's something up with him, but I just can't get my finger on it.' Cain let his thoughts drift back to what he had seen when he walked out of the forest. He shivered a bit, still a bit shaken up by the traumatic experience.

'That's most definitely not something a normal person would do!' Even though he knew he probably had a few loose screws, he wasn't going to do something so sickening...

"Okay... Let's start with a trade. We'll start our partnership with fair trade. You trade me your water and lightning mana shards for any I have that you want." Finally, Vincent got to the goal.

Cain narrowed his eyes, "So what you are proposing is something mutually beneficial?" Cain felt like he was finally getting to see what Vincent was getting at.

"Exactly... That's exactly what I'm getting at." A sly grin played at the corners of Vincent's lips.

Cain, who now knew what was going through Vincent's mind let out a smile of his own, hiding his intentions underneath it.

Although Cain didn't smile often, when he did, in contrast to his warm and harmless smile of Vincent, his gave off a more dangerous and handsome feel, mostly due to the scar that stretched across his face. If he didn't have the scar, he would probably not look the least bit intimidating.

"I currently have only 20 water mana shards, and 5 lightning. Sadly, I have a bit of use for the lightning attribute ones, but I can give you all the water attribute ones. In exchange, I want your metal attribute mana shards."

"Hmmm... You really can't let the lightning mana shards go?" Vincent asked Cain one more time, the smile on his face dipping a bit. His aura suddenly experienced a slight but dramatic change.

Cain noticed this, but he firmly stood his ground...

"Okay then. I accept... We'll trade according to piece and quality. That is 1 to 1 and low grade to low grade."

"Sure..."

Cain retrieved all the water elemental mana shards he had with him, while Vincent brought out a corresponding number of metal attribute mana shards. Cain wasn't sure if that was all he had, but he wasn't interested. After all, he had gained more than he expected already. He decided that the best and most efficient way to level his skills up, especially the elemental ones was to use mana shards.

Once they exchanged it, they both stared back at each other with a smile. Although they had smiles on, an entirely different scene was playing in their heads.

'I could have sworn I felt it...' Although Cain tried to play it cool, his heart was racing very quickly as he tried his very best not to break into a cold sweat. He applied some strength to his hand to stop himself from drawing his blade.

'Just for a fraction of a second, I could feel that killing intent as dense as blood washes over me.'

His intuition had never failed him before, so he knew better than not to trust him.

Cain had only felt that level of killing intent once in his life, which was from his master. Other than that, he had never felt someone give him the feeling of being so close to death before.

He could almost see the generic skeletal representation of death breathing down his neck for that brief second.

All of this just made Cain raise his guard even more.

Meanwhile...

'He reacted to the killing intent I just let off. He's no joke' Contrary to the hearty smile on his face, a sort of cold thought ran through his mind of Vincent.

'I am ninety-nine percent sure he was the one who caused all that commotion. How the hell is he so strong?!' The commotion he was referring to was the catastrophic display Cain put on when he used {Hollow Judgement}.

'And he's not from the underground, but he fights like someone that has been trained professionally by someone from the underworld. This just doesn't add up.' Vincent was confused over a few things.

As a respectable member of the underworld, and a verified 'No trigger', he was well versed with those who were officially part of the underworld and those related to them. The only place he knew Cain was school, but he had never really paid any attention to him.

Vincent was more of a free spirit who would rather spend his days living lavishly with the funds he got from his hitman contracts. As a 'No trigger' he was hired to do some odd jobs here and there such as assassinations, stealing of important information, and many more, so it was only natural that the pay matched the risks. Hence, although he attended high school just like every normal 17-year-old, his nightlife was a bit more lively than one would expect. Because of this, he would rather spend his free time enjoying women than keeping tabs on some random guy he had only heard rumors about.

'I'll have to keep an eye on him from now on. The probability I'll be able to take him out right now is very low, so I'd rather not take my chances. Why make enemies when you can have friends, right?'

If Vincent had chosen to act on his thoughts, he would have been on his way to meet his maker. Although Vincent was very strong, he wasn't capable of beating Cain, and he knew it.

As frustrating as it sounded, from the fight he had seen earlier, if he fought with Cain, he might be able to survive, but he certainly couldn't beat him, yet...

He was convinced that once he reached the peak of his growth, he would be the strongest.

'Hmph! People like this are usually shortsighted. He probably is sacrificing his potential for short-term benefits. Fool...' While Vincent put on a friendly front, that was just that. A front...

He was just as proud as the next person, maybe even more. He was convinced that he was the architect of his future, the main character in his own story...

And in a way, he wasn't wrong for thinking that. His repertoire of skills and abilities had limitless growth potential, so his confidence wasn't misplaced.

However, the same could also be said about Cain. They both had a lot of potentials, so only time would tell who would come out on top.

In the meantime, all they could do was become Frenemies...

They would plot against each other when they could and give support when they should...

A mutually symbiotic relationship...