Tian.

9TH LAYER OF HEAVEN, PALACE OF TIAN...

The Heavenly Emperor had been sitting on his throne for a while, staring into space. The throne room of Tian was one of the most magnificent places in the universe, a nice fit for the dwelling place of the supreme ruler of the Celestial deities.

The halls of his palace seemed to carry on into infinity, as they had been inlaid with special magic circles by the best of engineers, manipulating the spacial laws within.

With pillars inlaid with rare gems and jewels that could increase the density of mana in the air to the point of saturation, where mana crystals of the greatest purity started to appear, as well as floors marbled with the most precious of stones, and the most magnificent throne made of the most precious of metals.

Tian's throne room was truly amazing, but it was also decorated with body parts of powerful enemies he had slain.

The heads of great beasts such as Dragons, gorgons, and titans occupied shelves like trophies kept as a symbol of his greatness and strength.

The furry remnants of great beastkin warriors, as well as hollow husks of chimeras of all shapes and sizes, occupied what seemed to be an endless row of shelves specifically made to house these trophies of conquest.

However, Tian was indifferent to all the things surrounding him.

He just stared into thin air, as if he was in a trance. He had been like this for a while, and his servants who had come to check on him were at a loss, as the Heavenly Emperor had never been in the state he saw in currently before.

Suddenly, the doors to the throne room opened, and in wobbled an old man who looked like he had seen better days. He wore an all-black robe, carried a staff that was covered in runic symbols, and had a big bright red gem embedded at its top. One peculiar thing about this old man was how his eyes appeared to lack all colors. His eyes were as black as midnight.

They resembled soulless abysses that could make those who gazed into them lose their souls in them.

Although the distance between the doors and the throne was extremely large, the old man managed to cross said distance in a single step. He then made a slight polite bow towards Tian, and said in a deep and raspy voice,

"This old man greets His Majesty."

"Gabrius, there is no need for trivialities... Speak, what have you come for." Tian replied.

The old man, Gabrius, paused as if taking some time to gather himself, before replying, "I have gazed upon the Akashic records as of recent my Lord, and they have not changed even after all this time, which might mean-"

"He is still alive!" Tian interrupted Gabrius before he could finish.

"How did you come to that conclusion, your Majesty?" asked Gabrius, slightly surprised, as he didn't expect Tian to also be able to read the Akashic records, which contained information about the past, present, and future.

"I've been having dreams as of late... Dreams hinting towards his revival, although I am sure he had died that day. There can be no other explanation." replied Tian indifferently.

Gabrius, who had the wind taken out of his sails, asked in an upset tone,

"Well, what do you plan on doing, My Lord? Even being so young, and unable to control the elements, he was already so powerful. If we let him recover his powers, there is no telling what could happen this time! I suggest we find him and kill him before he has the time to grow properly."

Gabrius was the chief advisor of the Heavenly Emperor. He possessed the ability to peer into the future, at a cost of his vitality and lifespan, through the records of Akasha.

He was the most ideal individual in all the heavens to give the Heavenly Emperor advice.

"The time to make a move hasn't come. Spread the word. Anyone with information on the little dragon shall be rewarded handsomely." Tian replied in a tone laced with indifference as though he wasn't worried at all.

"My Lord, are you sure of this? If the old dragon catches wind of this, he will interrupt our plans!" said Gabrius slightly agitated at Tian's indifference.

If they didn't take this seriously, there was a possibility that they were allowing a murderous tumor to grow unchecked.

"Enough! Gabrius, go and do exactly as I say!" replied Tian in a resounding voice that shook the very foundations of the throne room.

"Yes, My Lord. It shall be done!" Gabrius replied curtly, not wanting to incur the wrath of the Heavenly Emperor.

"I am the Heavenly Emperor, Tian. I cannot be defeated, so let him come. Even a thousand times, and he shall be defeated all the same.

This time, however, his head shall be added to the collection of those that have fallen to my blade!" Gabrius heard Tian mutter just before he left the hall.

Gabrius let out a deep sigh just before he left the throne room, worried about the dark clouds that covered the future of the Celestial race.

***

Cain let out a deep sigh of relief. Hearing that from the system indicated the demise of his opponent, as well as his victory. He crumpled to the ground in exhaustion.

He could feel all the muscles in his body throbbing due to the excessive amount of strain he had put himself through by activating {Golden blood}. There were no longer any enemies around, as he had just killed the leader of the pack, he took this moment of respite to scroll through his status screen.

'Put all four free points into control...' Cain thought.

From the fight earlier, he had deduced two things. One, his skill, {Golden blood} was his trump card. The longer his trump card could last, the better he would be able to preserve his life.

As for control, due to his having higher control, his coordination had increased greatly, and he was able to maximize his strength and agility with every attack. He also had a feeling that there was more to this stat than meets the eye.

There was a connection between his control stat and the skill he had just acquired. Just to be sure, he decided to ask the system.

'System, how did I get my new skill, {Mana Blade}?'

{Replying to host: There are numerous ways to acquire skills. The most common way to acquire skills is to receive them automatically from the system when you make a kill. This has a very low probability rate, but the skills received are most likely going to be strong internal skills. The other way to get a skill is through mana manipulation, which is how you gained the skill, {Mana Blade}...}

'Mana manipulation? What's that?'

{Replying to host: Mana manipulation in simple terms, is the interaction between your control stat and your magic stat. The higher your control stat as well as your magic stat, with a bit of luck and innovation, you can create custom skills. Some might be powerful, while some might be useless, but this way of skill or spell creation is many times more reliable than the first. Skills created using this method are usually, but not limited to external skills}

{Another way to get skills will be through physical activities. For example, by performing a certain action numerous times with a 100% success rate, you will be able to create a skill. For example, by accurately striking a target's bullseye with an arrow numerously, an individual will be able to create an archery-based skill that increases their accuracy.}

{The second and third ways can also be used in conjunction with each other. For example, by punching a wall a thousand times whilst circulating mana through the arms, an individual might be able to create a skill that greatly increases his damage with his fists.}

{Now, to answer your question, your skill, {Mana Blade}, was subconsciously created by you using the third method. By combining your knowledge of martial arts with your mana using your control stat, you were able to produce such a powerful skill}.

'Wow... Seems pretty easy ' Cain said, recalling how easy it was for him to create the skill.

{Bear this in mind, host. The creation of skills depends greatly on luck as well as a lot of hard work. You had gotten incredibly lucky the last time. Skill creation depends greatly on the circumstances, magic, control, and many more factors...}

The system quickly shut Cain down. If not for luck, as well as a stroke of inspiration, he most likely would be dead, as that stroke of luck was what saved him.

He proceeded to sit up and lean against a wall. He winced slightly due to the wounds he got from the fight. He suddenly remembered the things he had placed into his inventory that had fallen to the ground when he had slain the {Blade Demon} and now, the {Devil Fighter}.

He made a mental command to open his inventory, and sure enough, there sat an oddly shaped item. It looked like a bunch of squiggly lines bunched up together, engraved on a piece of translucent, almost invincible paper.

Confused, he proceeded to retrieve it from his inventory. He focused his attention on it to observe its description.

{Mark of Beastly Strength: +5 Strength}

When he brought it out from his inventory, the item resembled a tattoo glowing with a faint red light. It had a circle engraved with weird symbols, enclosed in a rhombus.

'System, what are these things?' asked Cain.

{These are called runes. They will drop from fallen enemies at a particular rate. A full collection of 9 runes of the same type will lead to the formation of an array.

Some runes can be engraved on the body directly, while some can be engraved onto weapons. Some runes can grant extra attributes like the one you have now, while some can even grant skills or some special stats}.

'So can I put this one on?' Cain asked excitedly. An additional 5 points to strength would result in an obvious and direct increase in his combat strength, which in turn increased his chances of survival.

{Host should be warned, as engraving the runes directly unto the skin causes immense pain}.

'Don't worry. I can take it' Cain replied with conviction.

'What's a little bit of pain compared to what I'll gain? As long as I get enough power to stay alive, I'll endure...' Cain thought to himself.

{Very well... To activate the rune, as it is a strength-based rune, you can either place it on any part of your arms or your shoulders}.

"Got it." 

Cain proceeded to place the rune on his bicep, which then began to burn the patterns gradually onto his skin. Cain gritted his teeth, as the process was excruciatingly painful, and felt like his mind was being stabbed by sharp needles. The pain eventually died down, after the process was over.

"Fuck, this is more than just immense pain. What the fuck?!" Cain cried out.

{Replying to host: I told you so....} replied the system sounding a little exasperated.