Abandoned Island off the Serian South Coast.

7: 32 am. 23rd Banem 1092.

31 Days to World's End.

A few miles off Serisis' Southern borders sat a lonely island. The ruins of a abandoned fort told the tale of a time when this fort was necessary to protect Serisis from the dangers of the sea. Fortunately for Serisis, the border had been safe for several decades. Unfortunately for the fort, this meant the soldiers were relocated elsewhere. Right now, only a skeleton crew of about 10 sailors stood watch for the extremely unlikely event of an attack.

Usually, these sailors spent their time playing cards, drinking, or exploring the depths of the ocean. This morning, however was different. The sailors sat on the beach, debating as they watched a strange sight.

"How lon' you reckon he's gonna last this time?"

"Give it thirty minutes?"

"Fuck! Thirty minutes? You think that's possible!?"

"Twenty wasn't."

"Ugh."

The sailors' argument froze as a daeben shot up from the depths of the ocean, escorted by massive water columns. Pwoosh! Eight purprle limbs shot up after the daeben, hot on his tail.

Kashi instinctively reached for his bow. Grip! The daeben frowned as his fingers tightened around the bow shaft. "Useless." Kashi frowned as he recalled Razznik's glare. 'No. Don't chicken out.' Having firmed his resolve, he loosened his grip. He then stretched out his hands toward the ocean. "Let's try this again."

Veins popped on Kashi's forehead as he willed the ocean's waters to move. "Come on!" Kashi pushed and pushed, but no matter how much he gave, the ocean refused to respond. Suddenly, Kashi sensed immense danger. The daeben's eyes turned grim as he spotted a tentacle diving straight at him.

Kashi moved to dodge, but a quick scan revealed he had been surrounded. This was the sky after all. Even with the Sky Walk ability, his range of movement was too small compared to the ground. The Giant Octopus took advantage of this to surround Kashi with its limbs. There was nowhere to run.

Kashi quickly appraised the situaiton. This was bad. At this rate, he would get smacked hard into the ocean. The daeben kicked the air, shifting his position by a few meters. Thwack! Kashi coughed blood as a tentacle smashed against his back with the force of a semi-truck. Luckily, because of his positioning, the smash sent him hurtling to the island.

The sailors watching the fight paled. Kashi was coming straight at them! At the daeben's current speed, the sailors would be lucky to find anything left of their bodies if he crashed into them.

'Shit' Kashi recognized the crisis. Against his better judgment, he forced himself to spin and then kicked the air. Crack! Kashi stifled a groan as several bones in his right leg shattered at once. Thankfully, The opposing force greatly slowed his crashing speed. Unfortunately, one of the sailors learned how to run away from the Prometheus Institution. Rather than veer off to the side, he continued running in a straight line, which meant Kashi would definitely hit him after tumbling forward.

Kashi, was once against forced into desperate straits. With his right leg out of commission, he struck the ground with his left immediately he landed. Crack! The left leg shared its brother's fate. Thankfully, its sacrifice was not in vain.

Whoosh! A stone wall shot up from the ground in front of Kashi. BAM! Kashi crumbled to the ground after smashing against the wall, clutching his broken nose. The daeben groaned and cursed as he sat up. He looked to the shores, and saw Drixlia fending off teh octopus with seveal lightning strikes.

Although the Giant Octopus was infuriated, it did not dare leave the ocean. So, after blustering a little while longer, it turned around and dove deep, temporarily satisfied with giving the daeben a good slap. With that body, the daeben should be bedridden for a week at the very least.

This was true. Unless a mage was present, broken bones took absurdly long to heal, even for Summoned. Unfortunately, this was not a normal person but Kashi. Yggdrasil's healing aura flooded his legs before he could even begin to process what it meant to have two broken legs.

While his legs healed, Kahshi frowned. He looked at his hand, wondering where he went wrong. Water control. Should it be this difficult? This was just level. 1? If this first level was so difficult, how would the rest be?

"Hey kid! You alright?"

Kashi looked up at the sailor who ran back to check up on him. This was the man who learned to flee from the Prometheus Institute. "I'm fine. Thanks. Next time, try to run away from the danger."

The sailor scratched his head, eyes looking down with embarrassment. "Me ma always said I was stupid. She says if I fix me brain I'd be the King of the Seas." Ambition and Desire sparked in the sailors' eyes. "King of the Seas... Ain't that grand."

"Perhaps." Kashi did not know how to get rid of the sailor. Did people become chatty after experiencing a near-death experience?

"Anyway, daeben-dono. What kind of magic was that?" The sailor's eyes shone as he pointed at the wall. "That wall. I've never seen anything like it!"

"That? That's just plain old magi―"

"No, no no. Nothing bout that's plain. I know cuz I've seen lotsa mages." The sailor patted his chest, a deliberate proud grin on his face. "No magic circles, no chanting. Never seen someone control earth either without either of those. It's almost like you're―"

"Innate!" Kashi's eyes sparked with shock. "Innate! That's it!"

"Huh? What?"

"It's innate!" Kashi shouted once again and then shot to his feet. The daeben ignored the stinging pain and rushed to the shores. Once his feet touched the water, he stopped and then stomped on the floor. Boom! A stone wall rose shot up from the ground. Kashi's eyes narrowed. "This is it. This feeling." The daeben shut his eyes. He needed to memorize it. The path his mana followed when activating [Wall]. "Wall." Boom!

And so, the sailors, and Drixlia were treated to a strange sight. Kashi, with his eyes closed, repeatedly summoned pillars of stone, as if creating a dam in front of the beach. The daeben went on for hours, until he grew weak with hunger. At which point, he dove into the ocean and returned with a fish twice his size.

Kashi roasted the fish, and then shared it with the sailors. Once he was done eating, he returned to his training, constantly summoning [Wall]. Day turned into night, and back to day, but the daeben did not pause except to eat.

Kashi continued to use [Wall], and the sailors would have called him mad, had something strange not happened. It had just been for a brief moment, but one of the walls Kashi called was smaller than the rest. A few iterations later, a larger one appeared. Soon after, a misshapen wall appeared, with strange indentations. By Nightfall, Kashi's eyes shone as he gazed upon a stone ball rolling across the beach.

Yes, this was it! The way to manipulate elements innately. You inject your mana into the object. And through careful control, alter the nature of that object. The basic principle was easy to understand, but extrememly tough to put in practice. Mana in fully realized objects and elements, were closely bonded together. Tearing them apart to manipulate the object was far too difficult for regular mana.

Mages used magic to achieve this effect. But there were a few animals that could also do the same, but without magic. They were able to achieve this because their mana was innately attuned with a certain elements. An Earth Dragon could innately control earth, while a Kamaitachi could innately control Wind.

Kashi never realized it because [Wall] came as a skill, but he had the ability to innately control earth. This innate ability, of course, originated from Yggdrassil. The tree was the only pure earth atrribute he had. But the damn system never mentioned it!

As if summoned by his rage, Kashi received a timely prompt.

'Remember the feeling.' Kashi shut his eyes and focused on the mana flowing through his body. Slowly, he leaked mana from his hands into the ocean's water. Little by little, his mana trickled out, and like a hidden poison, diffused through the ocean. 'Hear me out.' Kashi passed his wheel through his mana to the ones scattered within the ocean. At first, the connection was weak. Earth was different from water. Earth required a strong, sturdy, the type gotten from practicing one skill for ages.Kashi glared at the prompt. He wanted to strangle this blasted system, but there was no place to direct that frustration. Instead, he closed the tab, and then looked at the ocean. Kashi walked into the ocean until he was waist deep, and then sunk his hands into the flowing waters.

Water on the other hand, was soft, and gently, but equally strong and tyrannical. Its nature largely depended on its mood. Bonding with the temperamental water element proved to be a much harder time than earth. As time passed, Kashi eventually decided to switch tactics.

Kashi walked into the ocean until he was completely submerged. The rolling waves lapped softly against his skin - sometimes, gently brushing, and other times harshly pulling or pushing. Kashi did not fight the waves. With a small jump, he surrendered himself to the ocean.

The second Kashi stopped fighting, the ocean grabbed him like a long-lost friend. A heavy undercurrent dragged him underwater. It took Kashi past several lifeforms, some friendly, others not so much. Despite faced with the increasing danger, Kashi made no move to defend himself.

Time lost its meaning as Kashi surrender to the current. The daeben's mind emptied, and for a brief moment, he forgot everything. Razznik, Suzuki, Lunette, the Maggots, Rosendun. Finally, he allowed himself to drop it all for a moment.

Kashi slept.

Who knows how long Kashi slept for. When he awoke from his slumber, he found himself in front of a familiar underwater lair. Before he could question how he arrived there, a giant octopus, whose limbs could stretch out to about 100 meters, burst out of the cave.

The octopus roared with rage as it glared at the daeben. Kashi had stolen thousands of eggs from its nest! Those were its babies that it was using the last of its life to raise. To think this bastard had come for more.

Kashi observed the octopus with a gentle gaze. He could under her anger. No species appreciated a cradle-robber. However, Kashi needed to set up a functioning aquatic ecosystem fast. Hydras were hungry creatures. They needed a self-sustaining system that provided them with food. Aside from training his water-control skill, feeding the Hydras had been his secondary motivation for coming all the way to the ocean.

"Forgive me." Kashi bowed his head. When he raised his head, his eyes had turned cold.

The Giant Octopus was having none of it! It roared and then launched its tentacles at Kashi.

"I do not know how to control this yet."

It was at this point that the Giant Octopus realized the flow of water was weird. It hastily looked above Kashi's head to see a 30 m maelstrom contained within something loosely resembling a ball.

Kashi's eyes lowered. He flicked his finger forward. The maelstrom zipped toward the Octopus which quickly wrapped itself with its tentacles. BOOM! Squish! It's efforts proved useless. The maelstrom crashed into the octopus, enveloping it in sharp, merciless watery blades.

Kashi watched as the maelstrom ground the octopus into a sea of red paste. Only when he was certain it was dead, did he drop the facade. *Cough* Kashi doubled over and coughed up blood. Not daring to underestimate the Giant Octopus, Kashi had overdrawn his mana, ki and blood. Only that kind of attack, with his life on the line, could get rid of the Octopus in one blow.

The maelstrom disperesed moments later, scattering the blood across the ocean.

Kashi winced. He did not have much time. The daeben quickly descended into the cave where he found tens of thousands of orange-sized eggs. The daeben did not stand on ceremony. He once again risked severe blood loss as he opened massive portals at either side.

A greedy suction force rapidly sucked in all the eggs within a few seconds.

BOOM!

Kashi's expression turned ugly as a tremendous force crashed against the roof of the underworld cavern. The daeben closed the portals, and then swiftly swam for the exit. However, his heart leaped into his throat as he looked into an eye three times his size blocking the exit.

"Fuck!"

Kashi did not took out an arrow from his quiver, and flung it with all his might.

Clang!

The arrow harmlessly bounced off the eye as if it struck metal. Kashi despaired. There was no way he could handle something on that level!

Roooar!

At this juncture of death, a deadly roar tore through the ocean, its owner clearly pissed off about something. The 'being' that watched Kashi reacted to this roar. It retreated from the cave and swam to confront the new challenger.

Kashi did not dare waste this opportunity. The daeben took a 'breath', and then burst through the exit - to meet total carnage. Kashi's bloodbath had attracted thousands of aquatic lifeforms from across the ocean. These monsters, big and small, which usually minded their own territories, savagely fought over the Giant Octopus' corpse.

Kashi stealthily swam through the blood fog. His heart froze in his throat as he knew that the littlest mistake would have the fish on him. Lady Luck did seem to be on his side this time, however, as due to the frenzied chaos, none of the fish paid attention to the life-form leaving the battle.

But, as they say. Disaster strikes at the 11th hour.

Kashi had just about cut through the blood, when a curious fish stared at him. The fish sniffed, feeling something weird. Two more sniffs though, and it knew what was weird. This thing smelled like eggs! Octopus eggs to be exact!

The crazy fish screamed to its friends, who immediately joined it in chasing after Kashi. That school's strange action attracted attention. Several fish now noticed the black two-legged creature scurrying away. They also smelled the eggs on him. Most of these fish were too small to contend for the Giant Octopus' corpse anyway, so with red eyes, they joined the chase.

"FUCK!" Kashi swore for the third time. The daeben torpedoed through the ocean with everything he had, but the fish quickly gained pace. At this rate, they would catch up in a few minutes. Some of the smarter fish sent signals to their friends ahead of Kashi, and soon the daeben found himself in a closed, rapidly closing net.

As a result, Kashi gritted his teeth and rapidly changed course, choosing instead, to swim directly upward.

Unfortunately, the underwater cavern was hundreds of meters deep. Kashi winced as he commanded the ocean to propel him upward. This kind of push did not require precise control. In fact, Kashi's bones began to creak from the counteracting forces.

ROOAR!

Kashi fearfully looked down. The chasing fish scattered as a colossal black mass sliced through the ocean like a missile. Kashi could not make out any discerning features, nor estimate its size. All he knew was this: He would certainly die if that thing reached him. Casting his fortunes to the wind, Kashi summoned every last bit of mana and channeled it into the ocean.

BOOOM!

Like a missile ejected from a submarine, Kashi burst upwards, cutting several meters in the span of a second. But, the monster below was even faster. Despite his speed, Kashi could feel it closing in. He could feel himself losing control of the ocean as the monster's mana eroded his, and seized control.

"AHHH!!!" Letting out a defiant roar, Kashi sacrificed even more of his blood! The daeben's complexion paled, and his sight turned blurry. But Kashi kept going. He pushed on, gaze fixed on the faint light shining through the surface. But, as fate would have it, just as Kashi's fingertips broke the surface, the ocean around him went still.

The ocean's water locked Kashi in place, preventing him from moving an inch as the monster opened a mouth that stretched out for tens of meters.

Kashi stared into the approaching abyss with a wry smile on his lips. 'So, this is how it ends.' Due to the vapid blood loss, Kashi eyes slowly lost focus as he lost consciousness. But, just before the world went black―KRRRAKUM!―the world was illuminated, just briefly, by a flash of blue and gold.