《The Hollow God》


 1 It was just a joke!

    Lying down on a comfortable hospital bed I was quietly listening to the old butler that was reading out loud a letter from my parents. Though it was very long once you skipped through all the pleasantries there wasn''t much actually written.


    What it basically said was "The doctors said there was nothing else they could do. The disease has evolved too far and they said you only have a few weeks left to live. unfortunately we can''t make it to see you as we are in china closing a very important deal but you don''t have to worry though as our butler Fred is stationed at the hospital and if there is anything you need just let him know and he will provide it for you."


    It sounded very cold but I was already used to it. My parents were incredibly rich and when I was diagnosed with the disease at birth I was told they hired the best doctors around the world to try and cure me, unfortunately it didn''t take very long for the doctors to deem my disease incurable, at least in my lifetime.


    The disease first destroyed my vocal chords and ligaments when I was just a baby and it continued to slowly corrode my body. There was a very large medical name for it but people eventually started calling it the "corruption". A very scary disease that ate at your insides leaving it pitch black. It was deemed not contagious by the various doctors but they still kept me contained just in case as it was an extremely frightening disease that they still couldn''t fully understand. At least the doctors weren''t completely useless as they were able to keep me alive until until now.


    Although sometimes I wish that they would take me out of my misery, I know that they were very interested in my condition so they were trying their best to keep me alive for as long as possible. At least I was pumped full of drugs most of the time so the pain was practically nonexistent.


    Since I couldn''t move or speak since I was a young my parents eventually stopped visiting as much especially after my little brother was born. I have never actually seen him but honestly I don''t mind. I''m not supposed to live that long anyways so it''s better for him to not know me at all so at least he won''t suffer when I''m finally gone, though from the looks of it this is as far as I can go.


    Even though I was going to die soon I wasn''t really afraid. What can be worse than the state I''m in now? I was actually quite looking forward to it. Will there be anything else? Will it be heaven or hell? Maybe reincarnation like the Novels I read, or the anime and movies that I watched all day?


    Thinking back to them I became excited and my heart rate slowly started going up. I always tried to control it as the doctors said my weak body couldn''t take much excitement but as I was going to die soon anyways I don''t think it really matters anymore. For the rest of the day I daydreamed of being reborn into another world with a powerful healthy body as I flew around in the sky like a god.


    After a few hours I could feel that my tired body couldn''t take anymore and was slowly breaking down so as I fell asleep I already knew it would be the last time I closed my eyes. I decided to try one last thing though before I left this world.


    When I was younger I was taught how to pray by a priest that had come to the hospital. He had gone to speak to many of the kids but I knew he was only visiting the ones that had no chance of surviving so of course I was included. He taught us in hopes we would convert before we died but after I prayed daily for a cure so I could go to school and live a life like a normal person nothing ever happened. there was no answer or cure so eventually I gave up and never tried it again.


    ''Uhm.. hello.. haha'' It felt a little embarrassing as I haven''t done this in so long.


    ''So um, I know I haven''t talked with you in a while but I mean it''s not like you gave me a happy life either so I guess we are even right?... well anyways, if there really is another life after this can I please at least have my health? It''s all I''m asking for. You can make me whatever you want. A girl, a boy, ugly, skinny or fat honestly it doesn''t really matter, I don''t even have to be human haha¡­ well .. after living like this I realized that a healthy body is really the only thing that truly matters.. anyways ¡­ that''s it .. no wait I think we should say Amen, yep that''s it, Amen''


    *Sighs* letting out a big sigh I slowly closed my eyes for the last time.


    At least I thought it was the last time however after what seemed like a few seconds I suddenly felt as if my body was thrown into a pool of cold water. When I opened my eyes in shock all I only saw complete darkness!


    I wanted to get the doctor''s attention somehow but the machines I was hooked up to weren''t there anymore and my body felt extremely strange.


    ''Did the nurse forget to give me my drugs? .. no, not just that, there was no pain! What happened to me?''


    I thought I had gone blind until I noticed a blurry shadow darting past me, though I was in complete darkness the thing was even darker than it. I was shocked and wanted to move away but I had no control over my body.


    Once a few more shadows flew past and seeing that nothing actually happened I finally calmed myself down and was able to get a better look at my surroundings. My eyesight also started to slowly clear up and I looked around.


    The strangest thing though was that not only could I see in front of me but also under as well which was really confusing. Underneath there was a sandy floor with some vine-like plants growing straight up into the sky and above me there was nothing. It looked like the night sky but devoid of the moon and stars, with the exception of course of the ghost-like shadows that darted around.


    As my eyesight was much clearer now I tried focusing on them trying to make out what the shadows were. I saw a long tail following their kite like bodies as they hovered about flapping their wing-like fins. It took me a second but I finally realized what they were!


    ''Mantas!'' They looked like huge birds flying in the water but they looked very different from the ones he''d seen on the internet. These mantas were pitch black both on top and bottom which made it almost impossible to see in the darkness, there was also an extremely long tail that followed behind them as they flew around. The strange thing however was that they had two faces! They had the normal manga head with the big open mouth in the front but underneath them was that goofy smiley face that stingrays had!


    ''So I really am underwater, but how am I breathing?'' I tried moving my limbs and due to my flailing my body started to slowly turn in place, as I tried to take control of my body I noticed a very long pitch black tail peek out from behind me following my every move.


    ''Oh no''

 2 Is there something wrong with the water?

    ''W-wait, wait wait wait¡­. I''m not human? Di-did god take my joke seriously? Actually I do mind if I''m not human you know!? Can I take it back!?'' The little manta wanted to face-palm but his wing/flipper like hands didn''t physically allow it, he didn''t know if he should laugh or cry.


    Though the situation was very strange he was able to quickly calm down. After just a few minutes he was already starting to get used to his new body and was even able to move around the water like the other mantas floating around.


    ¡äI guess I should thank my animal instincts for that.


    If it was someone else god knows how long they would go into shock for but he was able to quickly get used to the situation. Was it scary? Sure, but he would still rather be a manta ray in the complete darkness then be a bedridden kid who could barely move and that no one cares about, so for him this situation was still a plus.


    As he was Hovering around exploring his new underwater home the little manta saw something that left him trembling with excitement. One of the bigger mantas moved its long tail underneath its body and pointed it at a dark blue crab like creature covered in spikes that was scuttling in the sand and as he did a black Smokey arrow materialized foot in front of the tip of his tail and quickly shot out hitting the crab before it could react impaling it to the floor, only when it completely stopped moving did the black arrow dissipated into the water. The old manta then made his way to the top of the crab that now had a hole in its body and sucked out its insides leaving behind only an empty shell.


    ''Th-that was magic? Real magic!! I''m not on earth! I''m also not a species of manta that was mutated by industrial chemicals!''


    The little manta followed behind the older one watching it intensely as it hunted trying to understand how it was able to materialize the black arrow and he only stopped after the older one was full and left to rest lying down on the sandy sea floor.


    `well from watching the older manta what i learned was .. nothing .. nothing at all. However, from the novels I''ve read, to use magic you have to first feel the mana in your body and learn how to control it before you are able to do anything with it¡ä.


    The little manta then laid down on the sand with its eyes closed as it felt for a kind energy in his body. Thankfully it didn''t take very long until he found a large space inside his chest. Inside it there was a large white ball floating right in the middle with a smaller black ball hovering around it looking almost like a small solar system.


    ¡äSo this is where my magic comes from? It''s like the magical beast core from cultivation novels, if it''s the same thing then it should also be extremely valuable to the point humans would go crazy for it. I really hope I''m wrong¡­` He shuddered at the thought. Hopefully when he encountered other humans their first thought wouldn''t be to kill him for resources.


    The little manta was a bit lost on how to even start controlling the mana in his body, he even tried all the teachings he could remember from the novels and mangas but nothing seemed to work.


    ''The problem might be that i''m trying to control it using my human way of thinking, animals should be able to run, walk, jump, and even fight in some cases right after they are born so the solution should be inside me i just need to allow my instincts to take over and since i wont put myself in real danger for an experiment i''ll just have to make a fake danger!'' lying down for 15 years in a hospital bed if there was one thing he had confidence in was his imagination!


    The little thing slowly created a scene in his mind, he imagined himself being chased by a shark with nowhere to hide and it was quickly catching up to him. The more he concentrated the clearer the images were, he practically hypnotized himself into believing it was real and the danger was really happening but even after he was getting eaten there was no response from inside his core.


    ''hmm maybe the mantas instincts are to just run at the sight of danger when they go against a predator and not fight, lets try something different.''


    He once again created a new scene except this time he was no longer being chased but floating floating over the seabed. There were little crabs scuttling about everywhere he looked and once his eyes saw them he finally felt it. HUNGER! He never felt so hungry before in his life! He could feel his strength quickly leaving his scrawny body, it was either eat or die! focusing on that hunger was when he finally saw some movement in his core though it was mostly just a small twitch from the black moon that was all he needed!


    He Remembered the feeling and trying to replicate it he was able to make it twitch once again.


    ''Yes that''s it! That''s the feeling!'' Once he found a direction he was quickly able to grasp how it worked and after just an hour he could already materialize small arrows and shoot it towards the sandy floor.


    The little manta excitedly decided to go find a target to practice his new-found abilities. There were older mantas all around the big area where the mantas lived and the crabs never fought back when they were hunted so he wasn''t worried about any danger as he moved to the hunting zone.


    After some time he finally reached the place. There was a very large stalagmite like coral protruding from the ground with many small holes over it, there were spiky crabs coming in and out of the holes constantly, completely ignoring the fact that there were black flying creatures that ate ? of them all that had came outside to scavenge for food.


    As he looked around he saw a strange scene. There was a crab walking around the corpses of his brethren however he had no spikes on his body like the rest and not only that but his blue shell was covered in golden stripes that blended with the yellow sand below. The strangest thing however was that all the mantas were also ignoring him completely as he walked around unperturbed.


    ¡äSuch a cool looking crab is definitely the perfect first opponent and from his size he looked to me around my age as well so it''s even better. Our fight! Will be legendary!!¡ä.


    The little manta slowly moved his wing-like fins creeping closer and closer to the little stripped crab. As he reached a close enough distance he stopped and copied what the older manta did. He pointed the tip of his long tail at the little crab though his tail went over his body and not under. Why, you ask? Well why do gangsters hold their guns sideways? Because it looked cool! ¡­ probably. Gathering the shadow like mana in front of himself and channeling it through his tail, slowly a crude black arrow-like shape was materializing at the tip of his tail .


    The Crab seems to have felt something as it turned around and locked eyes with the little manta. Then squinting his eyes he lifted both of his claws getting into what looked to be a defensive like position.


    ¡äHooo and here I thought you were going to run. A strong opponent indeed, Ha! Here take my attack! ¡ä. The strangely shaped arrow finally finished materializing.


    ?Shadow arrow!¡ä the little manta shouted in his mind as he released the black arrow spiraling towards the little crab. The little crab''s face became serious as he calculated where the arrow would hit in an instant and then quickly jumped to his left as the arrow barely missed him and smashed into the sand by his side.


    Seeing his attack was dodged so easily the little manta shot a few others from different angels and at different speeds but the little crab dodged them all as if it could see the future.


    ¡ähahahaha! A Formidable opponent indeed. Looks like you are worthy to be the first to have a taste of my ultimate move!''


    Even though the crab could not hear what he was saying it seemed to know that the upcoming attack was going to be the real deal and finally decided to get serious as well. The little crustacean pointed one of his claws at the sea floor and made a swiping motion over his head and a sheet of sand suddenly rose off the ground and completely covered its little body except for its two beady eyes that looked extremely smug.


    Seeing this the little manta felt his blood pump faster. ''HA! You can use magic as well! I knew you weren''t simple, you haven''t disappointed me!''


    After getting a feel on how to better manipulate his mana the little manta could attack much faster now however it took out a lot from him as well.


    Arrow after Arrow materialized in front of him, so many in fact that even the little crab could not keep up with the number therefore he tucked his eyes under the sand and went into full defensive mode.


    The little manta only stopped when his mana was about to run out and then released them all at once.


    ''SHADOW ARROW¡­. STORM!''


    ''You were a formidable opponent¡­'' the little manta said as he turned around ready to leave like the people in the movies who would turn their backs before the big explosion happened, except as he started walking away he found that there was no piercing sound that was made when the older mantas hunted.


    Turning around he once again locked eyes with the little crab who had popped his eyes out of the sand and was giving him a mocking look. If this was a game there would be a big 0 on top of his head showing the lack of damage.


    ''H-how is this possible?! Did I miss? No, not possible! it was definitely about to hit him. Then¡­.. I underestimated his defense¡­'' he could feel that his mana reserves were almost empty and decided to strategically retreat.


    ''You win this time crab!'' he shouted in his mind then turned around and floated away in shame as fast as his little wings could carry him. Thankfully he didn''t look back and see the little crab raising his small claws in triumph.


    ------


    Before the battle took place, not very far away there was a goofy looking old eel inside of a big coral reef silently waiting for any prey to swim by, however an strange event took away its attention.


    it noticed a small manta slowly making its way to a small crab, from its size and the way he approached this was most likely its first hunt so the old eel watched it with interest.


    the little thing started it''s attack but unlike how all the other mantas did it he put his tail over his head as he pointed the tip towards the little crab.


    *sighs* ''poor little thing could it be he was born retarded?'' he shook his head as he felt pity for the little manta and thought of how sometimes mother nature just wasn''t fair.


    The little crab seemed to notice the mana that was being accumulated and went into its defensive position.


    ''oh and the little crab did not run at the sight of its predator? Could there be something wrong with both their heads?'' the old eel kept on watching with interest.


    the little manta then released its attack toward the little crab, it was a very small deformed arrow to the point where it couldn''t even go straight. it curved so much that by the time it reached the end it had missed completely.


    ''bahaha what was that! you m-''


    What the eel saw next made him speechless. Two seconds after the little arrow had already missed and hit the ground was when the small crab reacted and jumped slightly to the side as if he had dodged the attack.


    The manta then started to slowly but constantly fire more black arrows that flew everywhere except where the little crab was however it was still constantly jumping from side to side.


    the last straw was when he saw them both get serious and the manta materialized 5 arrows at once and in turn the small crab used its mana to move some of the sand over its body. When the arrows were released the manta turned around for some reason which left the eel dumbfounded.


    one of the arrows however actually curved so much that it actually curved back into the right direction hitting the crabs and then dissipated into smoke. the manta didn''t know how to use its mana correctly!


    ''err could there be something wrong with the water around here? i better leave, Im still young enough to have some children so i shouldn''t take any chances'' the old eel though as it slithered out of its cave and swam quickly through the water.

 3 just what i wanted?

    Making his way back to his Squad he didn''t even have time to be depressed before his stomach started screaming in anger. ''how dare you not feed me? You have literally not eaten once your entire life! Am I a joke to you?''


    He practically had no energy left, not just physically but he had also almost completely depleted his mana reserves which made him extremely sleepy. Thankfully he had seen other young mantas around so as long as he followed them he would figure out how they fed themselves as they also shouldn''t be strong enough to hunt alone.


    Looking around he had found that the young mantas had formed small groups that would follow behind the adults that went hunting. When the older manta found and killed one of the crabs on the seafloor the younger ones would quickly swoop down and steal an adult''s prey and fight amongst themselves. Strangely though the adult didn''t seem to mind as they simply let it be and left to look for the next prey.


    ''hehe with my superior human brain why should i have to fight with these children for food?'' he thought to himself as he flapped his little wings and flew through the water towards the borders of the manta territory.


    As he reached the place where there were only a few adult mantas floating around he quickly started to look for his pre.. Err helper. There were many choices but he ultimately decided on a much older looking manta that moved slower than the rest. It''s inky black color had faded, becoming an almost dark gray. It moved slowly through the water and suddenly stopped when it caught a large blue crab in its sights that was moving around the sand.


    The little manta followed his sights and when it was sure he knew which one he was going for he quickly floated next to the big crab before the manta had even finished materializing its arrow, when the older manta finally attacked he jumped on the body before the arrow had even disappeared. The adult manta was stunned for a second at the shamelessness before it gave up and started to look for another prey.


    Copying the way he saw the other mantas eating he floated over the hole left behind by the arrow and placed the small lower mouth over it and sucked out its insides.


    The first food the little manta had eaten in this world left him pleasantly surprised ''The texture is disgusting but it tastes amazing, if it was cooked and seasoned properly it could probably go for a few hundred dollars at a high end restaurant!''


    When the crab had become just an empty shell he was shocked at the fact that he was not even half full. The adult crab was his size yet he was still hungry! He quickly turned around and sped towards where the older gray manta had left to.


    After eating his forth crab he decided to stop and start his magic practice, not because he wanted to but because the older manta used his mana in some way to speed away so fast that he had quickly lost track of him!


    Going back to the safe middle part of the mantas he laid down on the sandy floor and started to train on how to better manipulate his mana, it was one of the very few things that could keep him occupied in this dark underwater world other than eating.


    A few days passed and he fell into a constant routine, everyday he would wake up and train constantly perfecting his arrow attacks and even making some original magic, not only that but he was also able to control the white mana that was in the center of his core.


    After experimenting a bit he finally understood why his arrows could do no damage. By only using the dark mana his arrow would not be physical almost like an illusion and would disappear on contact however, if he used the dark mana as a catalyst and filled it with the white mana it would finally become a physical attack, and that''s not the only thing it could do! The arrows that were filled with the white mana had a certain connection with him which he could use to control them at a certain distance and by filling his body with it he could feel himself becoming stronger and faster but what made him the most excited was that it was using this mana that the mantas could communicate with each other! They would send out small waves of it which the other could receive, it was only after covering himself with it that he started to hear them. Unfortunately their thoughts were extremely simple and slow. It was almost like transmitting your emotions but a bit more detailed but that did not lower his excitement whatsoever!


    His days soon became a constant eat, poop, train and sleep over and over and over. Though now he could communicate with his manta friends, their simple and slow way of thinking and speaking made him start to feel as if his own thoughts started to slow down as well It felt as if his mind was regressing back into a normal manta! He was honestly starting to become afraid to the point where he started to pray out loud to w.e gods that had brought him over. ''Please make something happen soon! my mind needs some stimuli or ill go dumb!''


    After a few more days of torture, today something finally happened!


    Coming back from his first solo hunt since his older helper the grandpa manta seemed to have been avoiding him for some reason. There was suddenly a loud sound coming from the corners of the manta territory. It quickly started to spread all around as every adult manta would repeat it as soon as they heard it. Though he had never heard them make such a sound before, it gave him an extremely bad feeling as he looked towards the place where the sound had first started. There he found a large fluorescent blue ball of light almost like a moon that was slowly getting bigger and bigger, squinting his eyes he found that this moon was actually made up of many tiny blue lights that were hanging on the forehead of hundred of long fishes with a large mouth full of extremely sharp teeth!!


    Today¡­. We the mantas!.... got attacked!!

 4 Take Care!

    The Mantas started moving Quick and organized as if they had practiced it many times. They quickly came together and formed a sphere on which the old and young were in the middle and sped away towards the opposite direction of the blue moon. I was of course right in the middle of it as well, as soon as I saw it I felt the danger and instinctively bunched up with everyone else.


    If someone was looking at us from a distance away they would only see a inky dark spot moving at a fast speed through the water as a ball of blue light moved right behind it. Unfortunately the blue light seemed to be moving a little faster and was slowly catching up.


    As I looked back, I found that those fish were much faster than anticipated. They were now so close that I could see how most of them were splattered with an inky black fluid all over their bodies. ''It was blood! It was definitely manta blood! I had gotten a small cut from the spiky crab before so I quickly recognized it, no wonder there seemed to be only around half us here!''


    One of the older mantas in the center which i had happily recognized to be grandpa manta seemed to have also realized how close the enemy was and sent out a message to everyone around him.


    "Darkness!!"


    Once he did so all the mantas young, old, and myself included released black mana in a large but constant stream leaving behind a long black cloud. Even the ball of mantas itself was also completely shrouded; however, I don''t know if it was because our eyes are special or because we are the same species but our vision was fortunately not affected.


    The massive ball of light had slowed down significantly as soon as it entered the black cloud so I quickly lowered the amount of mana I was wasting. I had already used up almost half of my reserves in panic and I could already feel exhaustion setting in. As the fish got farther and farther away for some reason I couldn''t relax whatsoever. Even though everything seemed fine now my instincts were screaming ''danger!''


    I quickly turned around to look back at the blue moon only to be met with a powerful beam of light that blinded me instantly. Fortunately I had another pair of eyes underneath my body which I used to spin my body around to keep up with the other mantas.


    I clenched my teeth trying to ignore the pain in my eyes as I went over the last scene I saw right before everything went white. The fish''s hanging light ball had brightened up, easily pushing the black magic away and almost like a spotlight it cut through the darkness shining onto the mantas.


    The chase started once more for almost 10 minutes before grandpa manta gave out an order once more.


    "Gray fight! Black scatter!"


    Immediately all the older gray mantas which amounted to around 50 stopped moving and turned around facing the blue moon that was quickly approaching , everyone else kept moving but scattering into different directions. After going a certain distance away I found a large clump of sea plants which I could watch the fight from and quickly jumped in. ''Grandpa Manta has been sharing his food for me almost every day, I can''t watch as he sacrifices himself without even trying to help!''


    The gray mantas started to quickly ready themselves as the blue moon came closer. Very quickly many arrows and large spears started materializing all over the place. There were easily over thousands of them, each gray manta creating hundreds!


    ''There are many fish but there definitely isn''t 1000 of them so couldn''t we win as long as we shot out a couple more volleys? Why were we all running???'' However it didn''t take very long for him to understand.


    As soon as the light fish were close enough, the gray mantas released all their attacks at once. Like black rain the spears and arrows smashed into the group easily knocking any of them that was hit into the sea floor! However the little mantas'' happiness was quickly crushed when he noticed that all the ones that had gotten hit easily dug themselves out of the ground and rejoined their brethren as if nothing happened!


    As if they were zombies no matter how many times they got hit they would quickly back up and keep on charging as if not taking any damage. As they got close enough many of the mantas started attacking using their tails by imbuing it with white mana, hardening it and stabbing onto the long fish. The ones hit would be easily thrown back but would then get back up and rejoin the fight just as quickly. Looking at them closely he noticed their bodies were covered in bones that protected them like full body armor. Only a very small amount of unlucky fish didn''t get back up, they were the ones that were unfortunate enough to have gotten stabbed on one of their very small eyes which in turn had crushed their small brain.


    Very quickly there started being casualties. Once they had gotten close enough the fish opened their mouth and their jaw extended out of their body at an extremely fast speed like a Sling jaw fish from earth except it reached much longer!. The only difference was that the sharp teeth would take a large bite out of their prey before it was pulled back to be swallowed leaving a small hole behind. Those small bites quickly accumulated leaving some of the gray mantas in tatters that bled out like a water balloon full of holes until they stopped moving.


    ''No no no no. this can''t be! They are too strong! Can I only escape and leave them to die??'' the little manta could only watch helplessly as the old gray mantas started to quickly die out with the remaining ones being slowly encircled. Grandpa manta which was the grayest of them all was still fighting as hard as it could using his tail as a spear trying to hold out as much as he could.


    ''Wait there is still something I could try!'' From his daily training the little manta had not only perfected much of his magic but created many new ones and one of those might work perfectly in this situation! Slowly charging up most of the dark mana he had left leaving only enough behind for him not to pass out he cast his first original magic in this world.


    ''Shadow Manta Clone jutsu!''


    Immediately hundreds of small mantas that were his size started flying out of his body, fortunately since they were mostly illusions it did not cost much mana individually. Controlling the tiny grain of white mana he left on each one he sent them to fly out and surround the light bone fish throwing them into confusion!


    The fish quickly turned around and started to attack the manta reinforcements while completely ignoring the wounded and exhausted old gray mantas.


    It wasn''t just the fish that were stunned but so were the mantas, they stood still in confusion as the fish turned their attention to the new attackers.


    ''Since when did we have reinforcements??''


    The little manta also noticed this and using his mana he shouted at them ''Run!''. It was then that the gray mantas noticed the opportunity and swam out from the enclosure in all the confusion. The younger mantas already had enough time to escape so there was no more reason for them to stay here.


    As the little manta was trying his hardest to concentrate on controlling the small clones he felt a gaze on him. Startled he turned towards it thinking it was an enemy only to find grandpa manta was watching him with a complicated look in his eyes, he seemed to want to say something but maybe because mantas IQ were not high enough he couldn''t find what words to say.


    ''Hehehe don''t get emotional on me now grandpa'' the little manta understood his dilemma and waved goodbye towards him with his tail.


    The old gray manta was confused at the gesture but understood its meaning, he copied it and left two words behind with complicated feelings before he turned around and left


    ''Take care''


    The little manta instantly felt his nose sour as he held back tears. Even though it was just two simple words he could feel that the old manta meant it from the bottom of his heart. What he didn''t know was that even though he was able to hold back his tears, the smiley face underneath his body has become a sad crying face that was sobbing uncontrollably as his tears merged with the salty ocean water.


    His past life he was cursed to lie on a hospital bed for 15 years without being able to move or talk! He was never able to even make one friend and even his parents that had cared so much about him when he was a child had already given up on him, just those small words of concern was all that was needed to make him feel extremely touched.


    After a few seconds he got himself back together and found that everyone had already escaped so by controlling the 100 something left of illusions that were left he made them speed up towards the opposite direction to where the other mantas had gone. It was only after the fish had become a small blue light speck did he disperse his clones and jumped out of the sea plants, he then plunged towards the unknown darkness all by himself.

 5 Take Me!!

    Soaring through the water with his short wings the little manta could feel a sense of excitement as he plunged into the unknown. Though he missed his new family that he had been with for months, he was in a whole new world! One with magic and infinite possibilities! It would be a complete shame if he spent it living on the dark sear floor.


    *sniff sniff*


    ''Grandpa manta, brothers 3,5, and 6 i''ll always remember you guys and i''ll definitely make sure to come back one day!!'' the little thing quietly made a promise in his heart.


    As he got further and further away from the place he had made his home he started seeing less and less things around him. Coral, plants, even small animals started to dwindle the more he swam leaving only the sand underneath him and the black sky up above.


    ...¡­.


    ...¡­


    ...


    ¡­..


    ..


    ''You know, looking around, The dark underwater sure is a little creepy. I guess I just never noticed due to the fact that I was surrounded by my manta family the whole time.''


    The darkness all around him started to seem more and more like the maw of a great beast that he was slowly sinking into. The complete silence made any light noise like the rustling of the sand underneath him sound like whispers, and even the freezing dark water started to feel colder and colder.


    The little manta started moving faster and faster unconsciously while being as low to the ground as possible.


    ''Hmm! i''m not afraid at all! My mana is already almost full and even if I bump into those fish again I can definitely escape with my illusions!''


    *rustle rustle* ¡­.


    ''Yup not afraid at all! even if i ran into a ghost which definitely don''t exist i still wouldn''t be afraid!'' the little manta stopped to look behind him and then to each side before he started moving forward once again.


    ''E-Even if they do exist i''m sure my magic can affect them, yup it definitely possibly can'' The darkness felt as if it was slowly closing in around him making it harder to breathe.The small lone manta was swimming closer and closer to the ground as it was his only foothold in the complete darkness


    ''Yup i''m a powerful magical beast in another word what could i possibly be afrai-'' Fingers suddenly sprouted out from the ground in front of him trying to grab onto his body.


    ''GAHH!!OIANHFLUIAOBENUBWDCOAINCD'' A black cloud was instantly released from the little manta covering both it and the attacker, then flapping his little wings as fast as possible he put some distance between his new enemy before he turned around to face it.


    ''Aargg my heart! What the hell was that?!'' the little manta looked at the fingers coming out of the sand warily as it tried to make sure it was not having a heart attack.


    Whatever was underground slowly came out of the sand. The first thing the little manta noticed was that the fingers looked a lot like legs now that he paid more attention to it, it was followed by a golden colored body and 2 small beady eyes with a very familiar look of disdain on them.


    ''How is it you!?'' the little manta was stunned as he looked at the small golden crab that had come out of the ground.


    The first thing the little crab did as he came out was look at the black cloud and then back at the little manta with a questioning gaze.


    He felt embarrassed at the exaggerated response he had to the little crab and now his questioning gaze made him feel as if his face was burning.


    "Cough cough, why are you looking at me like that? It''s a defensive mechanism alright?!"


    The little earth crabs eyes started showing even more disdain but now it even had some ridicule mixed in.


    ''How can such cold beady eyes express so much emotion???!''


    "Ahem ahem, what are you even doing under the ground anyways?"


    "Tired" a small voice responded.


    It was only now that the little manta realized he had never spoken with the little crab before, he was extremely surprised to find that the voice sounded very cute like a young girl. It was so nice on his ears he could feel his fatigue going away from just hearing her voice. Who would''ve thought my lifelong rival was a girl?


    "Oh .. ok .. uhh ..hmm" the sweet voice seemed to still be wringing around in his head completely halting all his thoughts. When was the last time he had spoken to a girl? Back on earth all he could do was dream of one day being able to get into a relationship with a nice girl and the little crab''s voice seemed to incorporate the perfect girl he usually imagined.


    The mood suddenly became awkward as a small crab and manta continued to stare at each other in silence.


    ''Snap out of it she''s a crab! A crab! You''re a manta it would never work''


    "Ahem ahem. Anyways it was nice seeing you again¡­... see ya" flying past the little earth crab the small manta continued on with his adventure into the unknown


    ''See ya? Why did I even say that? God i''m so stupid"


    "WAIT!!!"


    He immediately halted as he turned around to face the little thing which was now looking straight at him seeming a little nervous.


    "What??" he knew he might sound stupid if he started speaking so he decided to say only what was necessary, short and sweet.


    "Take me!"


    *cough cough ...cough the little manta suddenly choked as he heard what the little crab had to say. ''Is choking on water, underwater even possible??''


    "Take me with you!"


    ''Oooh''


    "huh? We are enemies, why would I take you anywhere??"


    "Take me!!!" that sweet voice once again rang out like bell chimes.


    "You know mantas eat crabs right? Why would you ask a manta to take you away??" The little manta said as he tried his best not to stutter.


    "TAKE MEE!!"


    ''Since she is all the way out here she had probably escaped when the light bone fish attacked. The fish came from the direction of the crab mound so they were probably the first ones to be attacked as well. She had also somehow made it all the way here on just her little legs no wonder she was resting underground.'' The little manta felt a bit sad for the crab. Most of his family had escaped but what about hers?


    "Fine! god! You are lucky I''m such a nice guy! You''re probably scared of being alone right? Hahaha I guess i could take you with me and drop you off at the nearest crab hive or something"


    He slowly floated down onto the sandy floor next to the crab allowing it to climb on him. The little thing walked up onto his back and sat down comfortably.


    ''I guess this isn''t so bad, an MC needs companions right?'' rising off the ground carefully making sure the little crab wouldn''t fall off he flapped his little wings once more resuming his adventure

 6 Maybe he cant see us?

    The little manta glided through the water accompanied by the little crab that was quietly resting on his back. It was only after what felt like a whole day did they finally notice some change in their surroundings.


    Before they had realized it the golden sand underneath them had turned into a pale white color. This sand was also much lighter and would scatter up into the water if the little manta swam too close. There were also some small plants and coral scattered here and there which were a welcome break from the endless desert-like seafloor.


    As they moved deeper and deeper the plants started to become bigger and denser eventually reaching a point that made it seem like an underwater jungle. There were also many small shrimp and snail-like creatures moving about giving some life to his surroundings.


    "Hey little crab should we stop for a bit? It''s not that I''m tired or anything i just feel like it would be more comfortable for you to rest on the stationary floor than on top of me"


    "It''s OK, I''m comfortable here." A lazy response came from his back.


    Cough cough "Umm you sure? Look at all the shrimp and small fish, you are probably getting a little hungry right?" the little manta asked, trying to ignore the burning muscles of his small wings.


    "I''m fine" replied the little crab once more.


    ''Little girl can you please let me off? I heard if you workout too hard when you are little you won''t grow anymore. I don''t want to stay this small!'' thought the little manta in tears.


    Fortunately he didn''t have to move too far before he noticed a huge structure in the distance. As he got closer he found it to be an extremely large tree that looked to be at least 1000 meters from the ground. Of course this was all an estimate since he had no idea how big he actually was compared to human beings, for all he knew he could be the size of an ant and the tree be the only normal sized thing here.


    "Look at how big that tree is! Little crab let''s swim to the top of it so we can get a better idea of our surroundings." Though it was a bad excuse he decided to grab onto his only hope of being able to rest for a few minutes.


    "Hmph" the little crap responded, he could clearly feel the disdain in her voice.


    The little manta didn''t know if he should laugh or cry ''We haven''t even known each other for that long but why does it feel like we are an old married couple?''


    He slowly made his way around the tree making sure there was no danger. Though there wasn''t anything on the tree there were many small living things all around that threw away his worry. Finding that it was safe all around he quickly made his way to the top.


    Even though he was swimming to the top of the tree and not climbing his small wings were almost ready to give up, he had to use his tail at the end to push himself to the top or he wouldn''t have made it. Reaching one of the topmost branches he plopped down onto it and completely stopped moving.


    The thick hard branch suddenly felt like the most comfortable bed he had ever laid his body on to the point that the little manta had to hold himself back to not let out a moan.


    The little crab climbed off his back and left to explore the tree without even looking back.


    ''You could at least say thank you, you know!'' he grumbled as it watched her walk away.


    *Hmph* ''when I''m fully rested i''m going to leave all by myself, i won''t take you even if you beg me!'' The little manta entertained himself with the image of the little crab begging on her knees as his eyes slowly closed and he fell into a deep sleep without even noticing.


    ¡­..


    ¡­


    ..


    *poke poke*


    ¡­..


    ¡­


    ..


    *poke poke*


    .........¡­..


    ...¡­


    ¡­.


    *pinch*


    "OWWW!!! The hell!???" the little manta quickly woke up as it felt a pinch on his side. As he opened his eyes he met the little earth crab looking flustered pointing its little pincer towards downwards..


    "You know what that''s it! I think I deserve a little respect around here! I''ve been carrying you around for hours yet when I finally g" he stopped as he noticed a small light where the little crab had pointed to. The little manta squinted its eyes as he tried to make out what it was. It was a bit smaller than him so he wasn''t very worried. The small light hovered like a firefly around the tree branches until it stopped at one close by to rest, it was only then that he got a good view.


    There was a long fish with a small light bulb like organ hanging on the front of his forehead. In its mouth there was a small bone that it was slowly grinding its sharp teeth on as it sat on the tree branch. Bone dust slowly floated down all the way onto the sea floor coming together with the white "sand"?


    The little manta was instantly frozen in place not knowing what to do. The little crab poked at his side once more and pointed out into the distance. There the little manta saw another small light that was slowly getting bigger like a small blue moon.


    Goosebumps appeared all over his inky black skin ''What are the chances?!!''


    The small crab quickly climbed up onto his back and prompted him to hurry up. The little manta looked at the fish that was happily feasting on the bone and decided to quietly leave before he finished his meal.


    Pushing down with his small wings he started to slowly float to the opposite direction as he prayed that he would not get noticed. He was only able to get a couple of feet away from the branch before he heard a loud scraping sound and he was abruptly pulled back. Looking behind him he noticed he had unconsciously curled his tail around the branch while he was asleep!


    ''Argg! I''m bad under pressure!''


    He quickly looked towards where the fish had been sitting only to notice him staring straight at him.


    ''M-maybe he has bad eyes and can''t see us if we don''t move?'' he thought as he and the little crab stood completely still hanging off the branch by his tail.


    Unfortunately his hopes were instantly extinguished as he found that the fish dropped the bone and a devilish smile opened on his sharp toothed mouth.


    The little manta could feel the blood lust coming from the fish, he could also feel a judging look coming from his back


    ''I''m sorry alright!!''


    He quickly untangled his long tail from the branch and got ready to fight. There was no way he could outrun him, he had already seen how fast they were. At least there is only one of them so he still might have a chance if he fights!


    The little manta decided to make the first move and exploded out a small black cloud hiding himself in it.


    The small fish quickly responded by shooting out a beam of light that quickly tore through the black cloud showing the little manta inside. Fortunately the smokescreen had already given him enough time to prepare his next attack. The small fish that had just gotten vision of the little manta in the middle of the cloud was surprised to find dozens of small arrows flying at him from all directions.


    "Shadow Arrow Storm!!"


    The small fish could ignore most of the attacks but he was distracted by the few that were aimed towards his vitals and had to dodge.


    "Shadow manta clone jutsu!" taking advantage of it the little manta quickly summoned over 100 small manta clones that looked exactly like him to fly off into different directions.


    ''Hehehe who said I had to fight to the death?" the small manta snickers as it started swimming towards the distance.


    Once the bone fish was done defending it noticed all the illusions flying in different directions. It was only confused for a small moment before it looked towards the direction of the real little manta and with a smile it quickly chased after him.


    The little manta was just starting to relax as he thought he had escaped when he sensed danger once again. Turning around he found the bone fish quickly catching up to him looking at him like he was looking at an idiot.


    ''Wait why??! How did he see through my illusions!?'' the little manta was shocked that it was seen through so easily, that is until he felt a poke on the top of his head and remembered the little golden crab he was carrying.


    Cough ''OK fine this time i''ll agree with you guys, i''m an idiot''


    Seeing as there was no way to escape the little manta turned around and faced the fish once more, he had less than half of his mana left and he was starting to get flustered. The bright blue moon was quickly getting closer, he estimated that he had only about a minute to get rid of him and escape before it caught up!.


    ''No wait i still have one more thing i can try but i only have one shot!'' The bone-like skin of the fish made him almost impenetrable to his attacks and the small eyes were too small and hard to hit and he could easily dodge if he attacked towards him. It was only when the fish made his attack did he have a chance!


    The little manta started to slowly charge up the rest of most of his mana both white and black concentrating everything into one attack. The attack of the small fish was incredibly fast so he paid attention to the jaw waiting for any hints that he was about to attack.


    The bone fish looked at the manta facing it that was carrying the small golden crab and laughed to itself at this strange sight. It had never seen such a strange combination, and what was even stranger is that this meal was delivered straight to his house! It would definitely properly enjoy this meal.


    The jawline of the fish started to unhinge as he was about to attack.


    ''NOW!!''


    "MANTAA!!! RAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!" the small manta released a thin laser-like attack from his tail that went straight towards the attacking bone fish. The attacks quickly met in midair as it went straight into the long stretched out fish mouth and destroyed his insides. The fishes attack froze right before it reached the small manta as it instantly died.


    "I did it? Did you see that little gold!? I killed the fish by myself! Haha-" the little manta stopped mid laugh as he felt a powerful fatigue hitting his body. He had used most of his mana and now he was paying the price.


    Fighting back desire to lay down on the comfortable branch and sleep he turned around and was about to start fleeing before he felt the little crab poking him once again. It pointed towards the fish''s corpse looking very excited.


    The little manta turned back towards the moon that was moving towards him and noticing that it was still a good distance away he quickly flew next to the fish and wrapped his long tail around it before he started fleeing as fast as he could towards the opposite direction.


    He turned around for a second only after moving a large distance away to be met with one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. In the middle of the dark underwater world there was an extremely large tree with small glistening lights completely covering it like a giant Christmas tree.


    ''I guess it''s moments like this that make adventuring worth it'' the little manta smiled to himself, he then turned around and started moving once again.

 7 Here, for you!

    On the bottom of the sea was a little manta slowly moving across the dark water with a small golden crab riding comfortably on his back. As the little manta spoke away the boredom the little earth crab picked on the last pieces of a bone fish and after eating a small piece it would then stick one into the little mantas open mouth.


    "Hey little gold have you ever seen the sun before? When I could see the sun I used to take it for granted and i didn''t even know it, now that I''m in this darkness I''m really starting to miss it. Hey little gold what do you think of going up to the surface? I know mantas shouldn''t be able- oh thanks ...able to breathe outside of the water but maybe I can because of "magic"?"


    "I can just imagine us reaching the shore and feeling the warm light of the sun on my skin. Maybe we can even meet some humans there, I would love to talk to them! I wonder what language they speak in, not that it really matters since we don''t use words anyway and speak directly into their minds. Oh is the fish completely gone?" realizing that the little crab no longer fed him any of the meat the little manta asked in concern.


    "One more, you can have" The sweet voice responded from up above him.


    "Umm, yea i want it thanks" He felt it was a little strange the little crab was being nice enough to give him the last piece but that nice voice seemed to melt all his suspicion away.


    A small pincer reached down, throwing something into the mantas open frontal mouth. He felt something was strange as soon as it touched the inside of his mouth, what she threw did not feel like a piece of meat at all!


    "What did you give me?!" the little manta was afraid as he felt the small thing instantly melt and disappear into his insides before he could spit it back out. He could feel his body getting hotter and hotter


    "Small core inside fish" she calmly responded.


    "And is it ok to eat it??"


    "...."


    "Little gold are you using me to check for poison?!" The little manta was really mad. After being together for so long and carrying her all this time it felt like she didn''t appreciate him at all! Maybe he should leave her and move by himself, what was the point of taking her anyways?


    "Are you okay?" A sweet voice came from his back sounding concerned.


    Hearing that bell like voice he felt his anger quickly dissipate. The little manta stopped in the water and looked into his core to see if everything was fine after swallowing that thing. To his shock he found that his core had grown by at least 2/3rds!! That was an amazing effect! Even after constantly practicing his magic for months it has only grown by half its original size! ''Could the thing I just ate be the light fish''s beast core??''


    "I''m more than fine little gold! Eating the beast core made mine grow by so much!" the little manta finally responded after a few minutes.


    "Your welcome" the little earth crab flatly responded.


    The little manta was speechless! She wasn''t actually worried at all! But at least it did benefit him a lot and his anger had already completely dissipated so whatever. The little manta sighed and started flapping his little flippers once again.


    ''At least I now have a direction if I want to go to the surface and meet humans. I first need to become stronger and to do that I need to fight! No more escaping! only by killing my opponent will i be able to grow stronger!'' feeling pumped up he started moving faster as he started to actively look for enemies.


    After a couple of hours he noticed a little problem. The sea is too large! How long would it take for him to meet a powerful creature that could have a beast core? Would it take days? Months? Maybe he would starve bef- ''Oh! there is one right there!''


    Waddling through the darkness was a purple oval shaped fish with spikes covering most of its body, it seemed completely unafraid as it moved alone through the water. Once it noticed it was being watched he turned towards them and immediately started charging. The little manta also found that it was quickly becoming bigger however, even though the spikes looked very sharp and dangerous, he was too slow!


    "Hehe little fatty do you really think you can hit me before I turn you into a beehive? Little gold watch me beat him" dozens of arrows started materializing all around him as he got ready to kill the fatty in one attack. As he was about to release it he felt his body being pulled abruptly disrupting his concentration, the arrows quickly disintegrated back into the water.


    The little manta felt a strong pull and couldn''t control his body as he was pulled towards the spiky fatty that was charging towards him! ''He can control the water!! How is that fair!?''


    The little crab could not adapt to the sudden change in movement and slipped off the mantas back!


    "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    The little manta heard a desperate scream and looked back to find that little gold had fallen off.


    "We are underwater, you aren''t even sinking that fast, why are you screaming?!" he felt a little annoyed that he got distracted at such a dangerous time.


    "......"


    The little manta tried to control his body but it was as if he was fighting against the whole ocean! He couldn''t do anything at all! His body spiraled quickly towards the big spiky ball that was charging right at him.


    Not being able to use any magic and losing control of his body he had already half given up ''i wonder if ill get a third continue if i die again?'' closing both pairs of eyes he awaited his inevitable demise.


    *BAM* he finally felt the powerful impact that pushed the water out of his body. Strangely though he felt no pain other than that.


    ''Why does it feel soft?'' Opening his eyes the little manta was confused to find he was stuck to a ball made out of sand.


    "Quick, attack!!" it was only after he heard that voice did he look down to find the little crab holding up both his pincers shakily.


    Realizing the situation the little manta took advantage of his stable footing to infuse mana into its tail making it harder and quickly stabbed it through the sand ball. A not very pleasant sound was made as the ball started to slowly deflate and sink all the way to the sandy floor.


    "HAHAHA! I''m still alive!! Little gold you saved me!" looking down to find his savior he noticed she was already moving towards the carcass of the purple blow fish. Seeing her indifferent attitude he felt a little embarrassed but she also suddenly looked a lot more pleasing to the eye even though she was a crab.


    "Wait little gold, don''t eat it, I''m not sure but I think his meat is poisonous" He quickly warned seeing as she had already cut into the body and was holding a small piece of meat with her little pincers.


    The small crab stared at the meat in its hand for some time looking as if it was making a hard decision, eventually she extended out her small pincer holding the piece of meat towards the little manta.


    "Here, For you" she innocently said


    "I don''t want it!!! Sighs. we will find something else to eat later, leave the meat there and take the beast core with us" He was a little frustrated but seeing as she had saved her life he decided to let it go.


    The little manta decided to give the core to the little crab this time, the other one had strengthened him by a lot and seeing how helpful the little crab could be in fights it was good for her to get stronger as well.


    ''I have very strong attacks but I''m weak in defense, little gold however had practically no attack power but is great at defense! We are the perfect team!'' After resting for some time and waiting for their mana reserves to become full they started moving once again.


    Using their strategy of splinting up the roles no one was their rival underwater, at least none that were alone. They would look for and kill any of the beasts they could take and with the little mantas abilities they could easily escape the ones they couldn''t handle.


    For a long period of time there was a strange duo of a manta and crab that threw the underwater world into chaos. As long as any living creature saw a small yellow glimmer in the distance they would instantly run away as fast as possible.


    ...¡­.


    "Hey little gold isn''t it strange that we haven''t run into any creatures for such a long time?" A now much larger manta asked as it moved through the deserted underwater.


    "Hmm" a light response came from a golden crab sitting on its back, though it wasn''t much bigger than before the golden color on its shell was dazzling, it almost looked to be shining. The strangest thing however was a large skull of some kind of creature sitting beside her, it was upside down and being used as a container to carry what looked to be ordinary golden sand from the sea floor.


    The Large manta suddenly stopped for a second before changing his direction underwater and heading a certain way at a fast speed.


    "Why did we turn around?" the charming voice asked in confusion.


    "Hehehe little gold do you remember why we left our home that day? Today I''m going to teach you a very interesting quote! Revenge is a dish best served cold!!!" the huge manta flapped his large wings and sped towards the place where everything started.

 8 How can you stay mad when you have tasty food?

    A dark shadow moved through the water at incredible speeds to the point that the creature that he passed had thought they had seen a ghost. However even after moving for hours there was no white sand in sight let alone the giant tree


    "Little crab I''m pretty sure we''re lost¡­. Lets stop and ask for directions" the little manta said as he stopped moving


    He concentrated his mana and shot it out from him in a wave almost like a sonar pulse. It moved out for a long distance before he finally found an old eel hiding in a large piece of coral a certain distance away.The manta flapped its wings and reached the opening of its hiding place almost instantly.


    "Hey old eel! come out for me!" the manta shouted.


    Hearing someone call out to it, the old eel that was waiting for prey was startled, he peeked outside of the small cave he had created in the coral and found a large inky black shadow with a small golden crab sitting comfortably on top of its head.


    ''Oh no, it''s them! The black and gold calamity! Why are they here?!!'' The old eel wanted to escape but was it possible to escape from them? Puting on his best ass kissing face he quickly moved out of the hole as to not let them wait another second.


    "Oh if it isn''t the great black and gold calamity! What good fortune it is for me to be able to lay my eyes on such great figures in my lifetime! If there is anything you need from the weak and old me i''ll do my best to complete it!" The silly old eel said as he tried his best to not look them straight in the eyes. The golden crab could even be said to look beautiful but the black manta with its large and dull eyes together with that large gaping mouth that looked to lead directly into the nothingness made the old eel feel like he was going to have a heart attack.


    ''Black and gold calamity? Is that what they are calling us?'' He felt somewhat proud to have gotten such a cool nickname and he had started to get lost in his thoughts when he felt a gentle poke from his back that reminded him of why they were here


    "Err... oh right, so we just wanted to ask for some directions"


    The old eel felt relieved when he heard that but still tried his best to help. Once he heard the description of the place from the big manta he was shocked. Why would they want to go to such a place? Everyone knows besides its beauty it''s a complete death zone where even the sand had turned white from the powdered bone of their unfortunate victims! But who was he to question them? The old eel pointed them towards the direction and even gave them a detailed explanation of all the places around it.


    Once they got what they needed the manta thanked the old eel and quickly left with the golden crab. Watching their backs the old eel was suddenly reminded of a scene that he saw a long time ago of a little manta fighting against a little crab.


    "No way, how could those two be them?" laughing to himself the old silly eel went back into his little cave to wait for the next expecting prey.


    At the speed the manta could move it didn''t even take half an hour for them to reach the big tree. Unfortunately it seemed like the fish were out hunting as there were no lights to be seen.


    The manta sat down on one of the big branches like he did that day, though this time he sat on the lower ones that were much thicker since he couldn''t fit his big body on the thick branches at the top like he used to.


    The little crab hopped off onto the branch beside it and put her skull box full of sand to her side. As she set it down the branch lowered noticeably.


    "Why are you even carrying that sand with you anyways?" the manta asked as he rubbed the place on his back that the skull had been sitting on with his tail.


    "Special sand" responded the golden crab.


    "What do you mean special? You were the one that made me pick the sand for you and I specifically remember that it was just normal sand!" He said aggrieved, not only was he carrying the little crab but now had to carry sand as well! ''What am i a dump truck??!''


    "I made it special" the sweet voice calmly responded.


    The manta had noticed that even though he never collected anymore sand for her the skull box had been getting heavier and heavier. He had thought it was all in his head so he never mentioned it before but now that she said it herself maybe the sand really is special.


    The duo quietly rested as they calmly waited for their old enemies to appear.


    ...¡­.


    In the distance a large school of fish moved through the water, each one carrying a small bone in their sharp jaws showing their hunt was successful.


    They moved unimpeded as any living creature with an ounce of intelligence would run away as soon as they saw the light in the darkness. Individually their strength wasn''t that big compared to other magical beasts but as a group they could proudly say that there weren''t many creatures that could compete with them!


    After a few hours of moving through the water after a long hunt they finally reached their den. A huge tree that stood unyielding in the currents under the water. They quickly moved towards it but right before they reached it a large cloud of darkness suddenly started spreading out from it. It quickly grew not only over the tree and the light fish but it only stopped after it completely covered the whole bone dust biome!


    The fish were startled and quickly huddled together dropping their bones as they got into a formation. They had fought many creatures that had the element of darkness before but with their element of light that completely countered it why should they be afraid??


    All the fish suddenly released a ray of light which came together becoming a large beam which cut through the darkness. They slowly changed directions allowing the beam to leave a large cut behind however they were shocked to find that the hole was instantly filled back up. After attacking for a few more seconds and noticing that their attack did not have much of an effect they stopped and looked around warily.


    "HAHAHAHA! little bone fish did you ever think that this day would come? The creatures that you thought were once your prey would one day be coming back to get revenge!!" A powerful voice sounded out leaving all the fish startled as they looked towards the direction it was coming from.


    The darkness in that spot suddenly receded exposing a large black manta quietly floating beside their home tree and beside him there was a golden crab on one of its branches also staring hatefully at them.


    "Who are you! Who do you think you are? What do you want?!! Get off our tree!" all the fish suddenly started yelling all at once.


    "Wait¡­ do you guys not recognize us? You attacked us and our family when we were younger! We barely escaped with our lives!" the manta shouted back however¡­..


    "Who are you! Who do you think you are? What do you want?!! Get off our tree!" all the fish started shouting once again. They were low level magic beasts and barely had any intelligence, how would they even remember a specific hunt from such a long time ago?


    Noticing that he wasn''t getting anywhere by talking he decided to just wipe them out. Honestly he didn''t have much hate for him as all of the mantas he liked had survived, he was only doing this so the little crab could have some closure before they left this place. They had become too strong and this underwater world was too small for them so they had to leave eventually.


    Hundreds of Small mantas suddenly started sprouting from the big mantas body moving quickly towards the bone fish. The fish realized that the talking was over and quickly got into a ball defensive formation. As the small mantas got closer the fish started to attack as they shot out their jaws which took a quick bite leaving a small holes behind on the small clones.


    The small mantas completely ignored the attack as they moved to encircle the bone fish. The damage they received while doing so would heal back almost instantly. After a few seconds they had completely surrounded the fish making a perfect globe over the ball of light.


    Over time after all the fighting. the manta''s ability to manipulate mana had gone up to an extreme degree and by constantly making use of many different attacks at once his ability to multitask made him a complete monster!


    As all the clones got into place they aimed their tail at the center where all the bone fish were accumulated and after charging up for a few seconds they attacked together! The little mantas weren''t just mere illusions any longer! By creating small pseudo cores in each one with its own mana he could also control them to cast magic!!


    "Manta Ray!!! Squad Series!!!"


    Each of the hundreds of small manta rays suddenly released a laser like attack from their tails toward the poor bone fish in the center. The powerful attack disintegrated anything they touched, easily cutting through their hard bone like armor. Under overwhelming power the poor fish couldn''t even fight back as the ball of light became smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared from this world.


    ''Hmm..... that might have been a bit of an overkill'' He remembered how hard the armored fish was and thought it would take some time to breach their defenses but they were obliterated!


    As he looked towards the little crab he found that she had stopped mid attack. The golden crab had her pincers lifted as a stream of sand was slowly moving out of the skull. Seeing as all the fish had been killed before she was even able to do anything she turned her back towards the manta and started to ignore him.


    "Eerr ¡­ i thought they would have been a bit stronger" the manta said in embarrassment.


    "Hmph" the little golden crab did not turn around as it continued to sulk.


    "Okay okay I''m sorry, I might have gone a little overboard but it''s because we became so strong!" He said feeling wronged. ''I was only trying to take out part of them, how was I supposed to know they were so weak!?''


    However his apologies seemed to have no effect as he was still being completely ignored.


    The big manta felt depressed but from the corner of his eyes he saw something which made him excited. He quickly flew out to the place where he had massacred the bone fish.


    "Hey little gold~~! Look what I~~ found~~~!" a voice suddenly came from behind the little crab a few seconds later.


    "Hmph!" Though she felt extremely curious, she was still mad at him so she did not give in and continued to ignore him.


    "Hehehe i guess i''ll have to keep all these all to myself then '''' A long tail came out from behind her showing the shiny yellow stone that was sitting on its tip.


    He had fought many different creatures and even though each one could take different kinds of damage, the core however is always the same hardness! Although they are always situated in the heart, the heart itself isn''t always at the center of the chest! He had lost count on how many times he fought extremely hard and long battles only to find out later that he had destroyed the enemies core! After learning this lesson, unless there is no other way he always controls his damage to be just below how much a core can take.


    Seeing the shiny beast core in front of her, with quick movements she grabbed the stone and stuffed it into her mouth followed by her face becoming one of pure bliss.


    ''Hehe I''ve only heard of this before but i guess it''s really true, how can a girl stay mad when she has tasty food!''


    They quickly finished eating all of the cores and though they were tasty, such a low level core didn''t have much effect on them anymore other than slightly clearing up their fatigue. That was the main reason why they had decided this would be the last stop underwater. For them to become stronger they had to move to a bigger place!


    Getting onto the mantas back with her skull jar full of sand, the little golden crab quickly made herself comfortable.


    "Next stop! The surface!!"

 9 Arent these a little strong?

    With the duo''s current speed it didn''t take very long for them to start noticing the water becoming lighter as they moved at an inclined forward direction.


    ''There actually really is a sun here!I Thank god! I was worried that this could have been some kind of strange sunless water world'' The large manta sighed in relief as he even started to put some mana into his wings to propel himself forward a little faster in excitement.


    Once he got closer to the surface to the point that the dark vision was no longer necessary he noticed a large body in the distance. It was still far away but from the size it looked like a medium sized island!


    "HAahahaha! Little gold do you see that!? It''s land! I''ll finally be able to meet some humans from this world!! Hey if we meet some please let me do the talking, i know exactly what to say to not freak them out!" Although it didn''t seem like the little crab had much of a reaction, you could see she was interested as she stared quietly at the large mass at the distance without ever breaking eye contact. What she was thinking? No one knew except her.


    ''It''s much bigger than i thought!'' The closer they got to the large body the bigger it became leaving the manta shocked


    The duo started to feel a weak pull on their bodies that would come and go every few seconds and it seemed to be getting stronger the more they moved towards it.


    "You feel it little gold? These are called waves! Did you know there are people that glide on them with only a piece of wood and move at incredible speeds?? Humans are really amazing aren''t they? I''ve always wanted to give it a try!" Unconsciously he started picking up his speed even more!


    The closer they got the more powerful the pull became. It reached a point where it suddenly jerked the large manta with such power that the little crab almost slipped off! He quickly slowed down as he felt that something wasn''t quite right!!


    "Uhhh, I''ve never actually been to the ocean but aren''t these waves a little strong? How could people play in the water if the pull of the waves were this powerful!?"


    Stopping completely the large manta decided to turn back to assess the situation a bit more before he approached the island since something was definitely strange. However it was as if that strange power had understood its intentions and the pull came back once more but this time it was at least ten times stronger!!


    The strong jerk pulled the large manta back at least a couple of yards and the small crab was thrown even further struggling to hold on to its precious pot of sand!


    "Little gold!" As soon as he recovered control of his body the large manta flew towards the little crab in hopes of being able to retrieve her and escape before the next pull hit them once again.


    As soon as he Reached the disoriented little crab he quickly flew underneath her and once she safely landed on his back and got her balance back he sped up towards the opposite direction of the strange island.


    By manipulating his mana a stream shot out from behind both his wings like jet engines, the manta reached an incredible speed in an instant.


    "Shadow Manta! Jet Stream!"


    Unfortunately they weren''t able to go very far when the pull came once more! Even with the extra speed they were still being pulled back!


    "Little gold help!" the large manta said under his breath as he put all of his strength into the technique.


    The little crab that was holding on to the mantas tail for her dear life finally started to act. Closing her eyes in concentration a large amount of sand started flowing out of the skull pot which she desperately held onto with her other claw.


    The sand crawled its way out of the skull and over the crab all the way onto the manta''s body, it then quickly molded itself into 2 pairs of manta fins that were placed both on top and underneath his own.


    "Sand Creation- Sand wings!" The large manta made sure to scream out. Even though she never bothered to, he felt it was wrong not to scream out their abilities as it was being used so he made the kind gesture of doing it for her every time while ignoring the strange look she would give him.


    With the help of the wings they gained just enough strength to overpower the pulling from the island and started to slowly distance themselves. The duo sighed in relief as the distance was increasing and the power on them was becoming weaker.


    As if realizing that it would not be able to overpower them the pull suddenly stopped as if giving up, almost making the manta lose control of the abrupt change in speed.


    The duo made sure to move at least a few miles away before finally slowing down a little to catch their breaths.


    "Little gold have you seen anything like that before? I think it was magic but it didn''t feel like water elemental magic to me" taking large breaths he took a look back at the large island sitting quietly in the distance.


    ".... ¡­ Hey..... doesn''t it seem like we are even closer to the island now for some reason or is it just me?" He asked, squinting his eyes. He also noticed that part of the land seemed to be opening. A feeling of danger suddenly overwhelmed him as he quickly turned around and tried to put some distance between him and the strange island once again.


    "Shadow Manta! Jet-" Unfortunately, it was too late!


    "WAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" A powerful sound wave slammed onto their bodies leaving them severely injured internally. The little crab was instantly knocked unconscious and sank slowly in the water unmoving.


    The large manta saw the small golden crab sinking and even though he wanted to go and help her he couldn''t move himself! his injuries were actually far worse than hers but he held onto his conscience by force. He wanted to understand what went wrong, he wanted to see who was attacking them!


    As the large island got closer he finally laid his eyes on his enemy right before it opened its large mouth and that force once again acted on their bodies and pulled them into it in one gulp.


    "WHALE!!!" It was his last thought before he fell unconscious.

 10 Uhh.... What are you doing?

    After what felt like hours the large manta suddenly felt a warm feeling spreading out from his stomach slowly healing his internal injuries. Feeling the warmth easing the pain and discomfort in his body he closed his eyes and fell unconscious once again.


    Some time later once his body finally reached a more stable condition the large manta started to wake up. As he opened his big eyes the first thing he saw was the flustered little crab. She would pick up a small beast core looking heartbroken and after what looked like an internal dilemma she would throw it into his open mouth before picking up another.


    When the little crab noticed the manta had woken up her eyes showed a glint of happiness before she quickly hid it.


    "Little gold what happened?" He said, still slightly dazed.


    "We got eaten!" She instantly responded.


    When he heard what she said he was somewhat confused as he was still slightly dazed from having just woken up, but once his mind started to clear up he remembered what happened!


    When he looked around he found that they were inside an immense enclosed space with pink sticky walls, there was also many trash and decomposing body parts of different creatures scattered all over.


    Letting out a deep sigh he turned back towards the little crab as his mind started to turn thinking of a plan however, he noticed something strange sitting beside her. There was the skull pot full of sand she usually kept but there was a dug up hole in the middle showing large amounts of beast cores that were hidden on the bottom!


    "Hey little gold, where did you get so many beast cores? I very vividly remember you always instantly eating your half when you got it, so where did these come from??" He asked, squinting his eyes.


    Startled, the little golden crab looked back and noticed the still uncovered stash and by taking control of the sand she quickly covered up the hole acting as if nothing happened.


    "Hey little gold did you stash away some of the cores you picked up before we split them between us?" He asked once again seeing as she didn''t reply.


    Turning her head to the side the little crab started looking around completely avoiding eye contact! If she knew how to whistle that is probably what she would be doing!


    "Signs you know what, since it saved my life let''s just leave it as it is."


    ''There are much more important things to worry about now, like the fact we are inside a huge beast''s stomach! If we don''t find a way out of here we are probably going to end up like one of those dissolving limbs!''


    "Come on, let''s go see if we can find an exit" The large manta floated down low to the ground to which the small crab responded by quickly jumping up onto his back.


    The duo made their way around the giant stomach looking carefully for any potential exits but they only found one large opening which was the entrance they had come from. Unfortunately every time it opened, the current that came through was too powerful! There was no way to go through it!


    "Little gold don''t worry, even if there are no exists, we can just make our own! Hehehehe" the large manta said as he let out an evil laugh


    Moving up close to the wall he gathered up his mana and then quickly attacked.


    "MANTAAA! RAAYYYYY!"


    A black laser-like attack with a small bit of white mixed in randomly cut right into the thick slimy wall. It took a second but it eventually cut all the way through to the other side!


    ''Hahaha! Your body might be big and strong on the outside but how tough can your insides possibly be?''


    Turning his tail slowly to the side the laser started to cut a thin horizontal hole into the thick wall. While he was calculating how big of a hole he should make he noticed that the corner he started on was already closed and the rest was rapidly healing!


    ''OK fine! it''s tough OK! your insides are tough!''


    "Little gold! help me keep it open!"


    The little crab swiftly acted, she pointed her small claws towards the large skull and once she did the sand started to stream out and fly towards the hole that was quickly closing. As it reached the wall it slipped into the parts that were starting to heal and turned into small pillars that held it open.


    "Sand creation- Sand pillars!"


    Feeling proud of his naming abilities as he ignored the annoyed look coming from his back he continued trying to make the hole big enough for him to be able to fit his large body through.


    "It''s too strong, go faster!" The little crab suddenly warned him. You could hear the urgency in her beautiful voice. The wall''s regeneration was so powerful that the pillars were slowly being squeezed!


    Realizing that they might be in trouble he started to increase the amount of mana being used in his attack which started to cut through even faster however, the amount of mana he had put in was not worth the amount of attack power he gained!


    Once he noticed that the hole looked just big enough he rolled his tail around the little crab which didn''t forget to grab onto the skull pot with her little claws before he squeezed into it.


    ''Thank god for this aerodynamic body or else I would never be able to fit through that!''


    The pillars disintegrated and the sand moved back into the skull as if alive allowing the hole to quickly close back up.


    Feeling some fatigue after the large amount of mana they used, the duo started to eat some beast cores that the little crab unhappily donated to recover their energy as they inspected the new area. They were in a dark purple corridor like organ that was just big enough for them to fit comfortably. It went on for a couple of dozen yards to each side before making a turn in the distance and the water around them was slightly tinged red but fortunately they could breathe just fine.


    ''Maybe we are in the veins?''


    "Little gold, we will make another hole after resting. I''m pretty sure this corridor won''t lead us out of here." After saying that he laid down on the floor to finish digesting the cores and recover his mana faster.


    As his belly touched onto the sticky purple ground he started to feel faint thumping from a certain direction. Both his mouths broke into an evil smile as he suddenly had a great idea.


    "Hey little gold, I have a good plan of how we can not only get out of here, but we might even be able to get our reven¡­ uhh, little gold, what are you doing?"

 11 I once read on the internet about this strange thing.

    Turning around he found the little crab doing a strange dance around her pot of sand.


    "Is this what makes that pot of sand special?" he wondered, watching her with a weird look.


    Since she didn''t respond he continued to watch until he realized she wasn''t actually dancing but stepping on tiny things. There were a bunch of small bugs that were eating some of the sand that she had spilled onto the floor and the few had noticed the big skull and got greedy. Of course the little crab was having none of it and was stepping on them mercilessly


    ''How dare you eat my special sand! Why don''t you have a taste of my foot instead?!''


    The little things looked like a black black cockroach. As he watched her brutally murder the poor things he found that every time she squished one it would open its mouth as if it was releasing a scream, but strangely, no noise was coming out.


    ''Maybe we just cant hear it?'' Suddenly getting a bad feeling he tried to calm down the little crab.


    "....Hey little gold maybe you should stop killing them .. it was only a little bit of sand anyways so how about you climb back up onto my back? However it didn''t seem like she heard him at all as she kept raising her killing spree.


    She had only noticed the bugs after they had already eaten a small clump of sand. Don''t they know how hard she worked on this pot of sand?


    Seeing as she wasn''t going to stop he decided to speed up his plans. Even though all the cores he ate had not been fully digested the growing sense of danger made him feel like he was running out of time.


    Charging up his attack once again he started cutting through the walls


    "Help me little gold!" It was only then that she finally stopped and after she climbing onto his back her sand quickly flew out to hold open the hole the manta had created


    Time passed quickly and even though they had passed the halfway point, strangely nothing had happened yet.


    ''Was my instincts wrong?'' With his lower face he looked around to see if there was truly nothing wrong but all he saw were only the black organ walls surrounding them.


    ''¡­. Wait a minute, why are the floors and walls black!''


    It was all covered with the little bugs! They made no noise and were too small to see so he didn''t even notice when they became fully surrounded!


    A small bulge started to suddenly rise from the sea of black and quickly grew like a vine towards the duo. A second after the first, others started to quickly rise all around moving also slowly towards them!


    "Little gold! use everything you can!" The black manta screamed as he threw most of his mana into the attack which started to quickly rip through the walls. Unfortunately the fatigue was growing just as quickly!


    The small crab also did her best as the sand seemed to have gained immense strength as not only did it hold open the hole but it also started forcing it open.


    The Mantas lower face was also trying its hardest by desperately blowing at the vines that were quickly getting closer. This desperate struggle that went on for a few seconds felt like hours!


    "Finished!" The little crab grabbed onto the manta with her claws right as he used his boost to squeeze through the hole right before they were completely drowned in the bugs.


    Though a couple of them were able to make it on but the little crab gladly helped get rid of them. They killed every single one before they started looking around making sure there was no danger in this new area. After seeing there was nothing strange anywhere they practically threw their tired bodies on the floor. Their mana was almost completely empty!


    The little crab passed him half of the last cores she had left and they quickly swallowed it. they sat there digesting the cores not moving an inch for almost a whole day, it was then that they started to feel like they were getting back to their peak. Their mana reserves were almost full but being on the safe side they waited until it was completely filled before moving out.


    The little crab seemed depressed as she looked into the hole of the sand pot where she used to keep her stash that was now completely empty.


    "Don''t worry little gold I have a good plan, not only will we be able to get out of here but we should also be able to get some good stuff hehehe" he said mysteriously.


    "Hmm I trust you" A sweet voice responded leaving him completely stunned. They have been together for so long now but the amount of times she was this nice to him could be counted on one hand! Other than Feeling all warm and fuzzy he also felt boundless strength coursing through his body.


    "Muahahaha! Then let''s go! Little crab, Today! I will take you to eat whale! hahaha!"


    The manta went up to a wall and put his ears on to it and listened intently for a few seconds before moving to a different place, he did this many times and sometimes came back to the same place before finally deciding in one specific spot.


    "Ok, we are starting! Get ready!"


    Attacking the wall one again but making sure to not waste too much mana he started to slowly cut through to the other side with the little crabs help.They had only used up a bit less than half of their mana this time.


    Reaching the other side he looked around making sure there was no more danger before he started listening to the walls once again.


    ''We have enough for one more try! please let this be the last one!'' The large manta silently prayed in his heart. He didn''t want to die here! He wanted revenge!


    As the laser cut through, both him and the little crab started hearing loud thumping sounds that came from the other side which got louder and louder the larger the cut became.


    As the hole became just big enough they quickly squeezed through. They were now in a very large cavity. At the center there was a large organ hanging from the ceiling by large veins that thumped every few seconds. It had an extremely large purple stone embedded on its center that bathed the whole area in a purple light.


    "It''s the heart! We made it ! hahahahaha!" he said out loud excitedly as he danced around in the water. The little crab however was stunned in place as her eyes were stuck on to that large stone.


    "Hehehe! Little gold, I once read on the internet about this thing that a strange group of humans called potheads did, They called it a Hotbox!" The manta said with a sly smile as it moved towards the large organ.


    He inserted some of his last mana to enhance his tail and in one swift motion he stabbed it into the large purple beast core. When he pulled it back, streams of purple gas-like mana started quickly gushing out.


    ''Hehehe, you can regenerate your muscles and organs but i doubt you can regenerate your core!''


    The whale seemed to understand what had happened but could do nothing except let out a mournful cry in sadness and unwillingness.


    "WAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"


    The cavity quickly filled up with purple gas and the manta could feel not only his strength returning but it was also quickly growing every time he breathed in. Feeling extremely comfortable the duo started to slowly close their eyes unconsciously before falling into a deep sleep.

 12 Only two problems left.

    A large black manta that was comfortably sleeping suddenly felt a tiny pinch on his back, as he tried to move his tail to scratch it he felt some resistance.


    "Hmm? ¡­ ¡­. ¡­" trying harder to move around he was quickly getting the feeling that he was trapped in something very small which gave him very little space to move!


    "Wake up!!!" A sweet voice suddenly called out from his back.


    "Little gold? Where are we? Why can''t I move? ¡­. Little gold, I didn''t know this but I think i''m very very very very claustrophobic... I''m starting to freak out here!" The large manta started to impatiently move around, his heart pumping faster as he began to feel short of breath.


    "Calm down!! We are still inside the whale, i think we might have gotten even bigger while we were asleep! Try and cut us out with your tail!" the pleasant voice sounded out once more as it calmly gave direction to the panicking manta.


    ''Right why didn''t i think of that!?'' realizing his mistake he quickly inserted mana into his tail and stabbed it through the walls. It easily cut through all of the whale''s muscles, skins, and even bones bursting out from the creature''s stomach.


    "I did it! I got through!" the large manta yelled happily as he felt the difference in temperature at the end of his tail.


    "Why are you so happy? The hole is too small, make it bigger!" she said impatiently


    ''Could it be that she is also not good with small places?


    The large manta concentrated his mana into a knife like shape on the side of his tail and started to slowly cut an exit. As the whale was already dead there was no need to worry about its powerful regeneration.


    Once he cut a oval shaped hole off the large body he used his tail to push it out creating an exit big enough for him to pass through. A bright light shone onto his face blinding him but he grit his teeth and quickly squeezed himself through to the other side.


    "Arggg! Little gold where are you? I can''t see!" Using his tail like a cane he slowly felt around his surroundings.


    "Hmph! You told me so much about the surface but now that we are here you can''t even handle a little light??" The little crab said in disdain as she climbed out of the hole they had created on the whale carcass.


    ''The surface!?'' Hearing what the little crab said he started to release the small black clouds he was using to protect his two pairs of eyes to get them to slowly adapt to the light.


    Even if he tried his hardest it still took a couple of minutes for his eyes which were only used to the dark underwater to adapt, but when it did he was speechless. The water was beautiful dark blue color which was filled with colorful fish of every size that feasted on the enormous dead whale, And of course the large yellow sun was floating in the sky shining down warm light on his black skin.


    *Sniffle* sniffle*


    The little crab was dumbfounded when she noticed that the large manta suddenly started crying!


    "This¡­ Why are you crying? Strong men don''t cry!¡­. Do your eyes still hurt?"


    Hearing how worried she was about him he felt so touched that his tears began falling even faster! Rubbing his eyes with his tail he tried to hide it however, the smiley face underneath his body was showing his true emotions and was crying its eyes out. :''(


    *sniff sniff* "I''m not crying OK?! My eyes are still burning because of the light, just give me a second."


    "OK¡­" Seeing how embarrassed he was she decided to quietly wait.


    After a few minutes passed the large manta had finished venting his emotions and decided it was time to leave so he started looking for the little crab.


    "Little gold? Where are you? Lets go explore!!"


    "I''m right here¡­.." a quiet voice sounded out from the hole that was cut out from the whale. When the large manta turned towards the direction of the voice he was shocked.


    "Little gold why did you shrink!!???" there sat a tiny golden crab that if the manta was a human she would be the size of a cockroach!


    "I didn''t shrink!! Hmph! It was you who grew too much!! Look!!" she said as she held out one of her claws.


    The large manta was confused by her gesture but as he got closer he noticed a tiny thing sitting on top of her little hand. It was the skull pot she used to put sand in!!


    ''She didn''t shrink! I just grew too much!!''


    The large manta was shocked and decided to inspect his whole body. Other than the size everything seemed fine until he looked inside at his mana core. There he found one more moon along with the black one floating around a large golden sphere in the middle. The white sphere had turned golden and the new moon had the same purple color the big whales mana had!


    "Little gold were there changes to your core as well??"


    "There was, the mana at the center turned into a golden color. It feels much more powerful and complete compared to the one from before!"


    ''Does this mean she didn''t gain purple mana like i did? But sh-¡­. Wait a minute!''


    "Little gold! You sound so much better! What happened?!"


    "Hmph! Took you long enough to notice! When I woke up not only did I get bigger but my head cleared up as well!" she said excitedly


    The large manta could hear the happiness in her voice and felt really happy for her as well. They could barely communicate before as she could only say a few words. It felt like he was trying to talk to someone from a different continent that barely knew the language!. Now if only they could fix the difference in species .. well there was also the problem of size now as well ...Sighs


    "That''s great! I had so much to tell you before but i had to hold back now i don''t have to hold back anymore! Let''s go explore, we need to find someone to ask directions anyways so we will talk on the way!"


    ''Wait, he was holding back before?!'' The little crab hesitated for a moment on whether she should get on his back or not but gave up on the end and climbed onto her favorite spot which was now ten times bigger before they sped off into the distance.

 13 Greetings!

    Even after moving at such speeds for over 5 days they had still not seen any land whatsoever. They had noticed something strange though, even after moving for several days the large manta wasn''t tired whatsoever not only that but neither of them even felt any hunger even once!


    They realized the changes in their bodies were much bigger than they thought. It felt like if as long as they had mana, their bodies didn''t need anything else! Which was very convenient since they were no longer restricted to being in the water!


    ''Hmmm ...It probably has something to do with this golden core, but even after trying every one of my skills other than the power, speed, distance, and control everything seems the same. What i''m actually curious about is this purple mana though''


    The little crab had fallen asleep on his back some time ago. Their bodies also no longer needed sleep either but it did feel good to get some shuteye once in a while.


    The large manta took this time to study the mysterious purple mana that he had gotten from the whale. He hadn''t told the little crab about it yet since he knew she would definitely sulk for days if she found out he had gained the whales ability and she didn''t, so he decided to hide it from her for now.


    ''Well thinking won''t really get me anywhere so i might as well try it out and see what it does."


    He started to slowly control a small amount of the purple mana outside of his body. As it moved along the water, the water seemed to move with it as well.


    ''Is this the element of water? ¡­ no it feels a bit different..''


    As he was deliberating what it could be he found there was a large school of fish nearby so he decided to experiment a bit more. Taking another bit of the mana, he controlled it like a net and moved it to surround the whole school of fish.


    ''Help this manta with his experiment little friends, i''ll let you go after we are done''


    He gently surrounded the alarmed fish with the net however, something quickly changed when the net finally closed! It was as if a large power suddenly acted from the purple mana itself which instantly crushed all the fish into one perfectly tiny red bead!


    ''....cough ¡­''


    Making a promise that he will definitely help out the next fish he sees as repayment for taking their lives he decided to go back to his experiments.


    ''No wait! It can''t be!!'' After another look at the red sphere sinking in the water an idea suddenly came to him!


    The large manta once again resumed his experiments and quickly found out that his suspicions were indeed correct!


    In front of a large manta in the middle of the ocean a large amount of water suddenly started slowly rising into the air, it would then move around strange patterns before falling back down into the sea.


    ''Hahahah! The whale didn''t have the ability over water! He had the ability over gravity! .. wait does that mean that i could potentially¡­.'' as a new idea suddenly sprouted he stopped everything he was doing and tried to see if it was possible.


    By moving a large amount of mana at once he completely covered his body. He was being extra careful as he remembered exactly what happened to those fish.


    Even though he could control hundreds of small clones at once this was still a bit tricky. The large manta had to find the exact amount of strength that the planet''s gravity was acting upon his large body and by using the same amount towards the opposite direction theoretically he should be able to fly!


    He practiced for hours but still wasn''t able to get very far. Everyday from then he would wait until the little crab fell asleep and practiced for as long as he could, fortunately his new large and powerful body had such large reserves of mana that it practically felt endless. It took him over one month to finally succeed for the first time.


    If someone was watching a certain place in the ocean at this moment they would be shocked. An incredibly large pitch black manta suddenly started rising slowly into the air from inside the ocean water.


    "Finally!! Hahaha i can fly!!!" his excitement surged as he got higher and higher into the air. The strong cold wind that started to blow onto his body made him feel like there was no place in the world where he couldn''t go!


    "Are we in the air?! How are we flying?" a shocked voice suddenly sounded from his back.


    ''Oh no! She woke up! She''s going to sulk! She''s definitely going to sulk!''


    "Uhh .. you see¡­ this ¡­." He tried to explain as he could feel that her competitive spirit was ignited.


    "Did you keep this a secret from me because you thought i wouldn''t be able to?! Hmph! I have a golden core just like you! If you can do it, so can i!" The angry little crab suddenly started moving large amounts of her golden mana.


    "Sighs* little gold it''s not like that ¡­ you wouldn''t be able to do it even if you wanted to.." seeing the little crab turning slightly red from her normal golden color from trying so hard the large manta was speechless.


    "Ok look the truth is tha-...." he suddenly stopped talking in shock as he felt the feeling of the tiny crab disappear off his back!


    ''Did she throw herself off!?''


    "Little gold suicide isn''t the answer!!" the large manta shouted as he started looking around for a falling speck of gold. The strange thing was that even though his bottom face was always looking down he never saw her fall down at all! As he was thinking of whether he should jump into the water to look for her he heard a sweet voice sounding out from over him.


    "hehehe told you i could do it! It wasn''t even that hard!" the little crab was hovering in the air with a golden aura surrounding her body, she looked like a crab god that had descended from the heavens!


    "This ¡­.. ¡­. Impossible!"


    "Hmph! What? Do you think i''m not as good as you???" hearing the anger in that usually pleasant voice made the large manta shiver slightly.


    "No no! It''s not that .. it''s ¡­ it''s just.."


    "Isn''t it just surrounding your body with the golden mana? What''s so hard about that? Do you really think so little of me?" her tone had quickly changed from anger to sadness


    "No of course not! I was just ¡­ it was a surprise! Yes I just wanted to give you a surprise! It actually took me days to learn how to fly but you learned in less than a minute! Little gold is much more talented than me!"


    Hearing the sudden praise her mood once again flipped almost instantly


    "Of course i am! See, even after growing so much you still aren''t as talented in magic as this little crab! You are lucky that you have such a powerful person willing to follow you!" The happiness in her voice was easy to see. The little crab then slowly lowered herself back onto the back of the large manta.


    ''Looks like she was starting to feel insecure because of how strong and big i had gotten¡­ well at least she''s happy'' His two large mouths breaking out into a smile, he decided it was time to go and was about to speed off into the distance when he saw something in the horizon!


    "It''s! It''s land!! Little gold look!" He called out excitedly.


    By manipulating the gravity his body started to quickly move. From the height he was sure it was actually land this time! He could see the sand and trees! He could even see all those little creatures on the shore!


    "¡­. Wait, those were humans! There are hundreds of them! Little gold are they here to welcome us? Wait but how did they know i was coming?"


    The tiny crab poked its head out from the back of the manta and looked curiously at those humans that the manta always told her about


    "Little gold my body is too big now so I don''t want to scare them. I''ll cover us in a big black cloud and try to communicate with them first. Hmm, I''ll try to show them my good side.."


    ----------------------


    "Quickly put down the injured and start treating their wounds! The ocean is the territory of the sea god so they won''t get too close." the old man with white hair and brown eyes shouted out directions as he also joined in to help.


    This large group of people consisted mostly of the old, women, and young and all the injured however were men.


    "Village head what about the people that stayed behind? Are we going to let them die???!" a group of older kids went up to the old man and started shouting.


    "Hmm and what can you do huh?! Can you fight against those things?! They are holding them back so we could escape, are you telling me you want to go back and get yourself killed and make their sacrifices be in vain!??" the old man shouted out in anger, you could see his blood vessels popping up from his neck


    A tall kid with teary brown eyes and hair that was leading the group started squeezing his fist so hard that his skin tore and started to bleed.


    "Sighs* look little Jino, I know you are frustrated but he stayed behind so you and your mother could survive. Your father, my son is out there now fighting for us right now, how could i not know what you are thinking? I''m sure he will survive and come back to us so help me take care of the injured villagers for now"


    Throwing out the thoughts of going out the kids spread out and started to help out wherever they were needed. As the old chief looked around he started to wonder what they would have to do once this was over.


    ''If none of the men come back we are going to have to migrate and look for another village to join with and hope they will take us¡­.. Huh? Is it going to rain? '' the old man looked up confused at the sky that was perfectly sunny just a moment ago.


    A large black cloud had come from the ocean and completely covered the shore where the villagers were in a dark shadow. The disappearance of the light made the temperature suddenly drop. Every villager felt a chill pass through their body as they also looked up in confusion.


    The dark clouds slowly parted at the center showing a giant smiling face as big as a large castle. The lifeless eyes looking down at everyone from above seemed to peer into all of their souls. Before anyone could react a powerful voice sounded in their minds. It seems to be speaking a language they didn''t know but they could fully understand it for some reason.


    "Ahem,ahem! Greetings fellow humans!"


    The villagers that had just barely escaped death were suddenly thrown into despair once again. Children burst into tears as the women started to scream in fear. Everything was thrown into chaos as everyone ran into different directions like headless flies.


    "Huh? Why?! Why are you running?!"

 14 What did you call me again?

    "Everyone please calm down! I come in peace!"


    The Humans on the shore completely ignored him as they continued to run around looking for somewhere to hide. A small part of them had totally broken down into tears right where they stood.


    "Guys ¡­ Guys seriously .. Calm down"


    No one was listening to him at all, he found that there were some people who had already completely given up hope and had sat down with their family and friends as they hugged and cried saying their last goodbyes.


    "Is this necessary? aren''t you exaggerating a little?!! I haven''t even done anything yet!??" The large manta watched them while completely dumbfounded.


    The language was strange but he had learned how to communicate directly to other creatures by sending his thoughts through the mana so there was never any need for language. In this case the humans were so weak compared to him that he could understand what they were saying by peering into their mana. Therefore technically as long as he concentrated on an individual he could straight up read their minds!


    "Little gold, How can they be afraid of such a cute face?" The large manta was very confused. Was he the only one that thought stingray faces were cute?


    "Hmmmm, I think they are afraid because you are so big!" She answered after thinking for a few seconds


    ''I can''t help it OK?! It''s not like I wanted to be like this!'' He felt depressed that his first meeting with other humans was a complete train wreck.


    "Here let me give it a try" The little crab said as she surrounded herself in her golden mana and slowly lifted off the giant mantas back.


    ''Now that i look at it, even though it allows you to fly, it''s really slow compared to when I use gravity. it would actually make more sense to call it hovering instead.'' He had felt somewhat annoyed that the golden mana could also be used to fly like his gravity element but noticing this small detail made him feel a bit better.


    A few of the people who had already lost hope abruptly stopped when they saw a golden light break through the black clouds and slowly descend. As it got closer to the ground more people started to notice until eventually they were all stunned in place looking up at the little crab.


    "little gold look! it''s working!" the large manta said excitedly.


    "Hmph! Of course it''s working! How can these humans run away when they see this little crab?" the large manta could hear the cockiness in her voice.


    As she reached the ground the old village chief snapped out of it as he quickly kneeled onto the ground putting his head onto the sand and forced his grandson to do the same, he didn''t dare to keep looking straight at the beautiful golden crab that was as large as a house. Once he did that everyone hurriedly followed suit and also kneeled down onto the ground while touching their foreheads onto the white sand.


    "We apologize for showing such an unruly sight, your holiness! We are humble people who live in a small village at the corner of the continent, we have never laid eyes on such a powerful mount before!" The village chief said in a loud voice afraid the large crab would not be able to hear him.


    The duo were confused for a second but after the little crab grasped his meaning she looked up at the large manta giving him a really annoying smirk.


    "????????" The manta was completely speechless!


    Seeing as they didn''t say anything the old chief started to get nervous. "I am the head of the Redwood village to the east, as you can see we are in a bit of a situation but if there is anything you need from us we shall do our best to satisfy you."


    As the manta peered into what the other villagers were thinking he quickly understood what was going on.


    "A divine beast! Look at the golden aura around its body!!" "What a beautiful divine crab!" "Will it help us??" "Are crabs vegetarians?"


    ''Could the golden mana we acquired after defeating the whale mean that we have achieved divinity? Hmph, the old guy called me a mount didn''t he? Hehehe, lets see what he thinks when i do this!''


    The large manta released the black cloud that was covering his huge body. As the darkness started to dispersed he used his golden mana to slowly completely cover his big body like how the little crab did. It was a very simple process so even though it was his first time doing it he succeeded without a problem.


    The villagers that were bowing down noticed that the dark shadow that had covered the ground they were looking at suddenly disappeared and was instead replaced by a bright and powerful golden light


    Though most stayed with their heads down, a few curious villagers including the chief''s grandson Jino couldn''t help but take a short glance at what was happening. As their eyes captured the scene they were completely stunned in place.


    The old chief that was nervously waiting for a response started to feel someone tapping on his shoulder, he tried to ignore it but the tapping became harder and harder to the point where it almost flipped over his body in the sand!


    ''I''m an old man can''t you be a little more gentle!!??'' As he was about to give his grandson a harsh glare he heard him scream out loud.


    "Grandpa! Grandpa quick! Look up! Look up!"


    The old man frowned but his curiosity took over and he took a small peak to which his eyes almost popped out of his head!


    Seeing their chief had also lifted his head the rest of the villagers followed suit, as soon as their eyes fell onto the sky they were completely speechless.


    "Hehehe what did you call me again? A mount?" the powerful voice sounded out but only went directly into the old chief''s head.


    Floating around two thousand feet above the ground was a giant black manta that covered the sky, like the small crab it was also covered in a golden aura which was proof to the villagers that they had taken a step closer to godhood and become divine creatures!


    As the powerful voice reached him, the old chief''s bronze tanned skin that he gained from working under the sun for years suddenly became white as a sheet of paper.

 15 Im sorry ok!?

    "This little one has erred and deserves death. I only ask that you spare the others." The old village head said while touching his forehead back down onto the ground.


    "Grandfather no!" The young man beside him cried out in sadness.


    *sighs* "It''s ok son, I have made a mistake and need to pay for it. I just hope that my life is enough to sate his anger."


    ''Grandfather ¡­'' The young man bit down on his lip as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.


    "......."


    ''Why are these people so dramatic!???''


    "Sighs everyone lets all calm down please for the love of god .. well for the love of me hehehe" hearing the voice inside their heads once again, everyone turned their attention towards the giant manta in the sky.


    "Don''t worry We aren''t here to cause anyone harm. We were just passing by and wanted some information." An excited glint crossed some of the villagers eyes as they heard him.


    "If that''s true can you please help us?! O-omighty one" The chief''s grandson nervously asked but quickly changed his tone once he noticed his grandfather''s glare.


    The large manta had already seen all the injured and was quite curious about what had happened to them. Some of the villagers had horrible claw marks on their bodies and some were even missing limbs.


    "What happened?" he asked Jino with a frown.


    "We were attacked! These strange monsters we have never seen before suddenly started to kill anyone they saw! My dad is still at the village holding them back so please save him!" The smart kid kneeled on the floor hitting his forehead onto the ground as he tried to appeal to the massive manta.


    "Hmm ¡­.. Well that is the general direction we are heading to anyways so i guess we could lend a hand however, we shall talk about your payment for my services afterwards. Nothing is free in the world after all"


    ''How was it little gold? Did I sound like a powerful divine creature?'' the large manta asked the little crab secretly.


    "Hmm, powerful" she casually responded as all her concentration was on watching these very interesting creatures called "humans"


    All the villagers were nodding excitedly hearing the divine creature was willing to help.


    "Of course of course! We will do anything you want!" The old chief swiftly answered. He was so excited that the blood that had left his face rushed back all at once making the old man look like he was blushing.


    "Hmm then lets go little gold"


    The large crab wrapped in a golden aura ascended back into the sky and quickly got onto the manta''s back before they sped off towards the east. The speed at which they disappeared was so fast that some of the villagers that had blinked completely lost sight of them.


    ------------------------------------------------


    "Little gold what do you think of the humans?"


    "They are very weak"


    "No, I mean did you like them?


    "Hm.. they were funny"


    "Yea, they were funny weren''t they?" thinking back to how they cared so much for each other to the point that they were willing to sacrifice themselves made the large manta feel all fuzzy inside.


    At the speed they were moving at, it only took a minute of flying to what would have normally taken hours for the villagers for them to reach the village. It was also easy to confirm they were in the right place due to a part of it being covered in a black cloud and explosions going off every few seconds.


    "There it is little gold! Lets see how strong these land monsters are compared to the fish in the sea!" A big smile grew on the mantas 2 faces as his blood started to pump in excitement


    ---------------


    "Rolfe! How many more times can you cast Fireball?!??" A big burly man standing at the wide entrance of the town hall screamed without looking back. He held up a big shield in front of his body with one hand while holding up a heavy saber with the other.


    "10? Maybe 12 but i won''t be able to move if i do! ARGGG! Why did this happen? I should be living the best time of my life right now drinking wine and sleeping with a different beauty every day! Yet here I am! Fighting for my life with a bunch of sweaty men!!" A pale and delicate looking, fat middle aged man that stood on top of a chair responded as he pointed a short wand with a red beast core at the tip over everyone''s head.


    "Who told you to sleep with the wrong woman???" the burly man retorted to which was followed by the loud laughter of the dozens of men standing in a messy formation holding everyday items as makeshift weapons and shields.


    The fat middle aged man blushed as he shouted in anger "Vall that was supposed to be a secret! And how was it my fault? That old monster has so many wives that no one can keep track anymore. Maybe if he was able to satisfy them they wouldn''t be out looking for someone that could behind his back! Now Stop talking about this, you''re distracting me! FIREBALL!"


    A fireball the size of a human''s head appeared in front of the short wand the fat man was holding. It quickly flew through the town halls entrance and over everyone''s heads into the black cloud that was surrounding the building. An explosion sounded out soon after followed by the angered howl of a creature.


    "Well we have to thank the old city lord then because if it wasn''t for him you wouldn''t have come to hide in this godless village. Who knows how long we would have lasted without you?" The burly man called Vall that was standing at the front said before he noticed a stirring in the darkness.


    "Here they come!" he shouted prompting all the men to ready themselves


    Three big creatures suddenly charged out of the black cloud that was surrounding the building a second the fireball exploded. The creatures were making short attacks, slowly wearing them out, taking advantage of the fact that the wand could only be used every few seconds. These creatures looked almost exactly like earth''s bison if not for the thick legs with visible muscles holding up their big bodies. They had big paws at the end of each limb each carrying 5 large claws the size of an adult hand. The scariest part however was the extremely sharp teeth they were showing on their face. Though they lacked horns, their huge hard heads would act like a wrecking ball when they charged.


    Normally beasts could never make use of such advanced strategies, but Vall had seen the clear eyes of a smaller one that was standing on top of a building calmly overlooking the fight and quickly realized they had an intelligent leader. It was surrounded by 4 larger than average bison beasts protecting him from all sides like bodyguards.


    As the three beasts charged towards them with their heads lowered, Val hid behind his shield and using his full body weight he met one of the bison creatures head on. The beast was much bigger than him and was easily 5 times his weight but as soon as it hit the shield it felt as if it had smashed onto an iron wall. One of its claws broke as it got knocked 5 steps back slightly dazed. Once it regained its balance it was extremely angry but before it could do anything it suddenly stopped in place and looked back at its leader as if getting a command before forcibly controlling itself and jumping back into the dark cloud.


    Even though Vall had easily held on the others weren''t so lucky. Fortunately the other two beasts were not able to break through but they did a lot of damage before going back. The men that took the brunt of the impact were seriously injured and had to be moved to the back of the formation as a few others quickly took their place. The ones that were slightly to moderately injured stayed in their place ignoring their broken bones and bleeding wounds.


    "If this continues we won''t even be able to hold for another hour!" shouted an elderly man that was treating the injured at the back.


    ''They already killed over a hundred villagers, it''s definitely enough to feed them all so why are they trying to wipe us out? Their leader is definitely smart enough to understand that the loss will outweigh the gains if he continues so why is he still attacking?'' Vall thought to himself as he quietly stared at the eyes of the small bison wondering what was going through it''s mind.


    "Just keep defending, we can only pin our hopes that they will give up befo-"


    "CRASH!" A loud sound suddenly came from above them followed by pieces of broken wood and tiles.


    "They are breaking through the ceiling!" The fat man called Ralfe screamed before swiftly pointing his wand up towards a creature that was breaking through the ceiling, the abrupt movement made his fat jiggle. A dark dense fog started to quickly flow into the hole created on the ceiling like water. Luckily the cool down for his wand was over so he instantly released a fireball towards the direction of the creature.


    "Boom!"


    The explosion brought down more pieces of the ceiling with it however as the smoke dissipated Ralfe saw the monster using his forearms to block in front of its body. The place where the fireball had hit was charred black and the smell of burnt flesh assaulted everyone''s noses.


    "It''s at least a tier 2 creature. The fireball isn''t enough to stop it!" Ralfe shouted in surprise.


    Hearing what was said, Vall turned back to look at the bison leader and noticed that one of the 4 of its bodyguards were gone.


    ''Sighs* It seems like they are adamant on wiping out every last one of us. Little Jino, looks like I''ll be watching as you grow up from the heavens'' Seeing as their chance of surviving is now completely gone, Val took a deep breath and shouted out loud for all the men behind him.


    "Alright men! We accomplished our objective! Our families should have reached the shore by now so let''s go all out and take as many as we can down with us!"


    "AAAAAARRRRRR!!!" The few dozen men behind him shouted in response. Just knowing their loved ones were now safe raised their morale to the peak.


    Ralfe frowned as he looked at the wand that would be completely useless for a few seconds before deciding to put it away into his belt and pulling out a sharp dagger at his waist which he held onto with both his hands.


    Seeing they were on their last legs the small bison leader sent out an order as over 10 of the beasts jumped out of the black cloud at once followed by the big one breaking through and jumping down from the ceiling.


    Time seemed to slow down for everyone at that split second before all the men suddenly lost sight of their enemies and were showered with blood and guts. They were completely stunned in place trying to process what had happened.


    Vall was dumbfounded as he turned towards the small bison leader only to see him looking back at him just as confused. All of a sudden a powerful voice sounded out in the heads of every living being still alive.


    "Uhhhh...¡­.ok fine! I''m sorry ok?! How was I supposed to know they would be so weak!?"

 16 Maybe i didnt change that much.

    Hovering over a thousand feet in the air was a giant manta covered in a golden glow. On its back there was a golden crab with her claws crossed in front of her looking extremely annoyed.


    "OK look.... maybe i exaggerated a little, but at least this time i left a few for you! look at those four on top of that building, I''m pretty sure one of them might even be their leader! You can take those OK?"


    "Hmph" The little crab covered herself in a golden aura and lifted off the giant mantas back as she moved closer to the ground for a better view.


    Seeing another divine creature had gotten off the back of the first one the eyes of both human and bison beast almost popped out of their skull!


    The beast leader was very intelligent and seeing as only his pack was targeted meant that these divine were definitely on the side of the humans! He swiftly reacted by releasing a large amount of darkness from his body and quickly jumping off the building as it tried to escape. The three body guards acted at the same time right after their leader had left and ran towards different directions while also covering the area in darkness.


    The little crab frowned as she noticed this and gave the large manta in the air a look as if waiting for him to do something. He of course instantly understood and promptly acted.


    "Hehehe you want to play with darkness in front of me?" A powerful voice sounded out in the heads of all the bison beasts that were left as they felt their lost control over part of the darkness surrounding them. The black cloud was so large that such a small amount shouldn''t have such a big effect if it wasn''t for the fact that that small part was 5 meters from them in all directions! No matter how hard they tried the black cloud would not get any closer to them. It was as if someone was shining a spotlight on them from above.


    Seeing as she had vision of the creatures once again the little crab excitedly started to act. As she hovered in the air she waved her little claws towards one of the large bison bodyguards and he instantly disappeared. If there were other people looking down at them from up high they would have seen that the ground suddenly split open and swallowed the creature before closing back up as if it was a slumbering creature waiting for its prey.


    The smaller bison leader was feeling extremely depressed, he had to release the dark cloud that he always used to escape since it practically acted like a beacon now showing where he was, not only that but one of his powerful bodyguards that he was gifted was taken care of so easily!! His small legs moved faster as he knew his only hope was to run into the dense forest to the south.


    ''Even though these divine beings are powerful they aren''t gods! As long as they lose sight of me in the dense trees I should have a chance to escape!'' the small leader thought to himself as he pumped his legs full of mana, strengthening his muscles to the point that it felt as if they were going to split apart.


    The golden crab seemed to be enjoying herself. This was the first time she had a chance at using her magic after evolving and she was very surprised by how strong she had gotten!


    Waving her claws once more a large crab claw suddenly formed out of the dirt in front of one of the escaping bodyguards. It tried changing his direction as soon as it noticed however the large claws moved much faster than it looked and quickly came down on top of his body turning him into a bloody pancake.


    Moving her eyes towards the last of the bodyguards she raised up her claw once more. A pillar rose right underneath the poor creature catapulting him into the air at such speed that his image quickly dissipated over the horizon.


    Every time one of his bodyguards died the small bison pushed himself to run a little faster and as the last one lost its life the small thing broke through the limits bisonly possible. Fortunately for him, just before the divine crab turned towards his direction he was able to dive into the thick forest just in time to completely leave her sight.


    As the divine crab turned towards the direction the small bison leader had escaped to, she flashed him a look of disdain and flew back onto her favorite spot not caring at all that he was still alive.


    The large manta noticed how different his and the little crabs thoughts had changed after acquiring so much power. The small bison was powerful when compared to the humans and they would probably do everything in their power to try and get rid of him however, for the duo it was merely an ant that had slipped under your bed. Was it really worth the effort to go kill it?


    As he looked towards the direction where the small bison leader had gone, he actually caught sight of him in between all the trees and leaves. The surprising thing was that it was looking straight at little gold, you could see the strong emotions swimming in his eyes anger, hate, humiliation.... thirst for revenge.


    While little gold was moving onto his back a small arrow materialized and flew into the forest at an incredible speed without anyone noticing. He didn''t even bother to say the name of the ability either. After creating such powerful moves would one arrow even be considered one?


    ''..... OK maybe i didn''t change that much, but who told him to put up such an obvious flag?'' the large manta inwardly shook his head and turned his attention towards the small humans underneath him.


    Back on the ground all the men had gotten onto the floor once they realized their saviors were the powerful divine creatures floating high above their heads.


    Why is there a darkness divine being all of the way out here?" the big burly Val whispered as he slightly turned his head to look at fatty kneeling close by.


    "How am i supposed to know?? I already told you just because I came from a holy city it doesn''t mean I know everything about the divine!" Ralfe responded slightly annoyed.


    As if ignoring his answer Vall proceeds to ask him another question.


    "Have you heard of a darkness element divine manta creature before? Or what about an earth element golden crab?" he asked with a serious tone of voice.


    Ralfe frowned as he quietly went through his memories but nothing came up. "I haven''t heard anything about them¡­ Maybe they are newly born and come from the sea or they could also have come from the barbarian lands, who knows? The world is large it shouldn''t be a surprise for a few divine creature to pop up every once in a while"


    Hearing the answer Vall nodded and turned his face back towards the ground as he quietly waited to see what the two powerful beings would decide to do with them.

 17 Whats wrong with these people?

    Seeing as everything was taken care of the large manta turned his attention back to the kneeling human males.


    "You know, having people kneel whenever they see you sure feels pretty good doesn''t it little gold?" After bathing in that feeling for a little bit more he decided to let them off and told them all to get up.


    Vall and the others hesitated for a second before getting back onto their feet. Their heads were still lowered as they dared not look straight at him in fear of offending the large creature.


    "Relax you don''t have to be so stiff. We passed by the beach and met your people, they were the ones that explained the situation to us and at the end we ended up making a little deal."


    Vall had a bad feeling as soon as he heard that.


    "They asked me to save you guys and in return¡­. I could have whatever I wanted." The smile underneath the mantas body became bigger as he said that.


    Vall and Ralfe cursed in their minds on how naive their people were. It seems they forgot what evil divine creatures were capable of! Since they have lived in the Enlightened continent their whole life they were used to how things were here but that''s only because the divines here were restrained under the laws of the holy church and the church of darkness. If these divine were new or came from the barbarian lands they would either not know of the laws or not care all! Of course it wasn''t as if it would have made much of a difference anyways since even if they did not promise anything, what could they do against a divine?


    "Since i have completed my side of the bargain now you have to complete yours hehehe" The manta looked at each human until it noticed a big fatty with pale skin, he had a small wand on his waist and it was obvious he didn''t get much sun from how pale he was..


    "You. the fatty with white skin, i nee-" However before he could finish talking he found that the fatty had suddenly burst into tears.


    "Waaaaa don''t eat me, I don''t taste good! Waaaaaa look at all this fat, I definitely can''t be good for your health please don''t eat me!" He proceeded to roll on the ground as large teardrops fell from his eyes.


    ''Seriously¡­..what is wrong with these people? Even the men are just as dramatic!'' He could see the other strong men were also starting to get emotional as tears were accumulating in their eyes so he decided to speak up before things went out of control.


    *Ahem ahem "fatty i need you to give me information, i picked you because you seem to know a lot of things." The large manta hurriedly spoke, seeing grown men cry wasn''t something he enjoyed doing.


    "Huh?" The fatty stopped his rolling on the ground and quickly got back up as he wiped away his tears as if nothing had happened.


    "Hahaha Your majesty has good eyes! I am indeed the smartest person here!" you could hear the blatant pride in his voice.


    The men that were getting emotional had their tears instantly dry up as they looked at the fatty in anger. The dumpling looking human completely ignored them of course.


    The large manta smiled to himself as he watched them but as he did he found that other than the fatty everyone else were covered in blood from the beasts he had killed and there were also many injured ones. Actually now that he thought about it there were many human bodies covering the ground as well. He was actually quite surprised by how little reaction he had after seeing a dead human for the first time in his two lives.


    ''Maybe it''s because i never really lived my past life that i think of myself more of a manta now than a human¡­'' The huge creature went quiet for some time as some painful memories crossed his mind while everyone quietly waited for him. It was only after a few minutes later that he snapped out of it and started to speak again.


    "I only need the fatty so everyone else can go do what you need to do, oh and there''s no need to go inform the people at the shore I''ve already let them know what happened" He had already sent a small clone towards the shore after wiping out the bison creature so by now the rest of the villagers should have already gotten the news


    As everyone quietly left and busied themselves in helping the wounded and gathering bodies a small clone came out of the big manta and hovered in front of Ralfe.


    "Come with me" it said before flying into one of the closest houses. Ralfe was a little nervous but as he noticed the men all staring at him he stuck up his nose and puffed out his chest and walked into the small house right behind the clone in big strides.


    The people outside gritted their teeth as they promised themselves that after the divine being left they would teach that annoying fatty a lesson.


    Ralfe slowly walked into the living room and found the small manta clone hovering at the center. The small manta had his body vertical to the ground with its belly facing him showing the second face underneath his body. Ralfe quickly averted his gaze when he saw those 2 lifeless black eyes staring at him with a smile plastered on its face. He could feel goose bumps breaking out all over his body. Hurriedly walking in front of the small black clone he kneeled onto the floor not daring to raise his head again!


    '' why are people so afraid of my cute face? I''m sure stingray faces are cute right? ¡­..Of course I''m right, the people in this world are the weird ones¡­'' The small manta clone comforted himself as his plan to look less scary for the fatty completely backfired.


    "Ahem ahem .. your holiness needed this little one for something?" fortunately he had his head lowered and didn''t notice the smile on the mantas face twitch as he called himself little one.


    ''Hmm .. I need some information. Tell me everything you know about divine beasts, the continent ¡­ ¡­ actually just tell me everything you know"


    "Of course! of course! I was actually someone very important at a holy city at one point so I know more than normal people. I''ll start with how I ended up in this godless village in the first place. You see there was this very powerful city lord who has many wives ...¡­.." As he started to speak the fatty had unconsciously raised his head and was talking to the clone completely forgetting how scared he was just a moment ago.

 18 Teacher and Studen

    He wanted to interrupt the fatty as he only wanted some information but he somehow became completely engrossed in the story before he even noticed. Fortunately he was still able to get a lot of information from this world from it.


    Ralfe spoke about how he was a genius magic artificer taught since young and was next in line to become a Chosen for his cities Divine, so he could start his work. Too bad he offended the city lord which used his influence to not only kick him out of the city but chase him away to a godless village at the corner of the continent. A godless village being a village that has no divine creature looking over it.


    Once the manta asked him for some details he was able to get some truly important information. Humans are never born with the power of elements like beasts are and can only wield their life force which is the white mana in the body. There is only one way they can gain an element which is a requirement to be able to make magical items, that is by becoming a chosen to a Divine creature. Once they are picked their bodies are changed into a version closer to the holy creature and they gain the elements that it can wield.


    The amount of Chosen that one can create is limited and he guessed it had something to do with the Divine''s strength, but the fatty did not know exactly how it worked. He did however know that the strength of a divine can only grow with having more believers.


    As he asked some more questions about the cities the manta was able to learn some really interesting information. Here on the Enlightened continent, religion was completely banned! There were just too many divines and if everyone created a religion it would become complete chaos. This rule is enforced in the open by the holy church and in the dark by the church of darkness so even the evil divines have to follow these rules as long as they are in this continent.


    Long ago before these rules were in place the world had become almost unable to sustain life due to the frequent battles. A religious person will always follow and respect their Divine, being completely faithful that it was the strongest and the only one to bring salvation to the world. Now what would happen if you had hundreds of different religions all with people thinking that way living close to each other?


    Back then a believer would kill the follower of another religion which in turn the people of that religion would come back for revenge with more people and the cycle would be repeated a couple of times until even the divine creatures would end up making a move leaving thousands dead and the land completely uninhabitable.


    This brought the fatty to tell him the second rule that the two churches had created. Divine Creatures are only allowed to fight each other using their humans! If they wanted to fight themselves then they had to first leave the continent to do it!


    "But if divine creatures can''t create a religion and can''t show their strength by fighting then how would they be able to gain any followers so they could grow?" This question bugged him through the whole conversation, it felt as if the churches had banded together to break everyone''s legs to stop them from growing!


    The fatty gave him a huge smile as if this was the question he was waiting for!


    "Everyone knew that faith could raise your strength, but over time the divines realized fear also worked which made many creatures turn to a darker path but not long after that they came to a realization. Joy, Anger, Surprise, Sadness, Disgust, were also found to work which led people to reach a conclusion. As long as you think about the divine being in your head no matter if it''s good or bad it will give him strength! So if you can''t fight or create a religion how would you spread your name and image for everyone to know?" Ralfe was enjoying himself too much to notice that things had taken a weird turn and he was standing as he spoke as he motioned with his hands like a teacher while the small manta clone was floating close to the ground quietly listening to him like a student.


    "How??" The small clone curiously asked.


    "Advertisements! Products! The first god to notice this was Miranda the eagle of light! She gathered many artificers and created these magical items that provided humans with light in the darkness. This product was quickly spread all over the continent along with her name. As her strength quickly grew she joined the church of light and is rumored to have broken through to godhood becoming one of the top dogs in the organization!" He spoke while getting so excited that small droplets of spit were raining down onto the small clone without him noticing.


    "Ahem ahem¡­ " The small clone lightly coughed bringing the fatty back from his excitement. As he remembered his situation and who was in front of him he quickly dropped to the ground on his knees on the wooden floor apologizing profusely. They were only able to go back into the conversation when the small manta waved its tail while ensuring him that he wasn''t mad.


    "So that''s how we can grow on this continent? By making magical items?"


    "No no! Of course not! Products don''t just mean magical items! Each divine has an advantage in a certain area due to their element! Earth usually focuses on building or ore collecting, fire on blacksmithing, wind in information and transportation, water in fishing and sailing. Any of them could also choose to go and fight at the border against the invasion from the barbarian continent for merits and fame, of course these are just some of the basics, there are divines that focus on a completely new thing that no one ever thought of before. I''ve heard of a country of metal towards the center of the continent that have three Divines working together, one of fire another of water and the last one has earth. They have large machines that could move quickly over the land carrying heavy loads while spewing white smoke! There is also a city known for its beauty that focuses on the arts like acting, music and painting. Their Divine has the element of both light and water and it was said they have magical items that could create a wall of water that could show moving pictures! It is my life''s dream that one day i will be able to see it with my own eyes!" As spoke his excitement started to surge once more


    "What about the other elements?" The small manta asked curiously.


    "AH! yes! The light element is weak in combat against most elements but it can be used used to heal wounds other than being able to create light. Many of them chose this path to spread their name and a good amount also go into a specialized fighting path called "paladins" created solely to fight the evil divines of darkness and their followers ¡­ The strength of the darkness element is in fighting as it''s the strongest element as long as it''s not fighting against the element of light. It has a corroding effect that can eat away at the other elements, with the exception of light of course. So they usually either go to the front line or join underground assassin organizations to spread their name...." Ralfe felt a little awkward telling him this but he knew divines could vaguely know what you were thinking so he didn''t even take lying to be an option, what he did not know was that the manta did not care whatsoever.


    "What about the element of gravity?" the little manta smiled as he thought of the possibilities that this element could bring to the future!


    "Gravity? ¡­.. ¡­.Y-you! You have a divergent ability!?" The shocked fatties eyes that were usually almost fully closed due to his fat was now wide open in shock!

 19 Till Death Do Us Apart!!!

    "But this is impossible! You are definitely a Divine, I''ve seen the golden aura! But how can this be?!" Ralfe started to mumble to himself ignoring the small clone in front of him.


    The little manta frowned and spoke into his mind in a loud voice to awake him from his stupor. "Explain!"


    The white fatty jumped in shock quickly coming back to reality. "Yes yes! I''ll explain!" He took a few seconds to organize his thoughts before he started to speak again.


    "There are a total of 6 elements in the world, earth, water, fire, wind, light, and darkness but there are some special creatures that are born with a new element that has a purple color which gives them a strange ability, we call them divergent. Those abilities are random and make no sense but give you a huge advantage against anyone at your level however, it is still considered a curse, do you know why? No creature that is born with a divergent ability is ever able to reach divinity! They are forever stuck in the realm of mortals! Forever stuck at the peak!" As Ralfe spoke he looked at the small clone in front of him with a strange gaze.


    "I wasn''t born with this ability. I gained it from another creature in the sea." The manta spoke calmly. The fatty already knew he had a divergent ability anyways so he might as well tell him everything and get as much information as possible, he can think of how to deal with him later.


    Ralfe shook his head as he started to speak once more. "Creatures are indeed able to gain new elements through consuming others'' core but this is an exception. I don''t know the exact details but what i do know is that it''s impossible to gain a divergent ability from consuming another creature. Do you know how many tried this over the years? There used to be just as many creatures with this seventh element as there were of every other element however, now they are almost extinct! Even today the church of light and church of darkness will reward anyone with huge sums of money for one of these creatures either dead or alive, even just information of where there could be such a creature will get a commoner enough gold for a lifetime!" Ralfe started speaking normally but was practically shouting by the end of the explanation.


    ''Why am I special? Could it have been the whale? No, or else little gold would have been able to gain this power as well¡­ maybe?'' the manta left his thoughts and turned his head towards the nervous fatty in front of him.


    "What are the requirements for creatures to be able to gain a new element?"


    "No one knows exactly, not even the divines know this answer. A creature can sometimes gain a new element on its first time eating a core but at the same time a creature of the same species could consume a core of the same element 1000 times and never gain anything. I heard some people say its luck others say it depends on your affinity with it, who knows? One detail they were able to confirm though was that it is impossible to gain an element from the core of someone lower level than you."


    ''Affinity? So maybe it''s my modern human understanding of how gravity works that allowed me to gain this new element?'' After coming to this conclusion he got into a very good mood. Every reincarnator in novels always came with a cheat ability and he finally found his! Knowledge!


    ''Now what to do with this fatty? If word got out that there was a divine with a divergent ability I would probably be hunted down by the two biggest powers in the continent!'' The small clone looked at the person in front of him as he went through his options.


    Ralfe felt the change in the small mantas gaze. He knew he had learned some sensitive information so there was no way he would just be let off!


    "Your holiness this little one wishes to follow you in the future whether it be through sickness and health all the way until I die!" Being fast on his feet he knew he had to speak first before the small manta made a decision so he quickly kneeled on the ground with his forehead touching the floor as he shouted.


    ''You couldn''t have phrased that a little different!? For two lifetimes I have been single and the first person to confess to me is this human dumpling?!'' The little manta was disgusted as some strange images flashed through his mind.''Well let''s see if you really are saying the truth!'' The manta then focused onto the fatties mana and started to read his mind.


    [I''m really saying the truth! I would never lie to you!] Was what he heard being constantly repeated in Ralfe''s mind.


    "...."


    ''This fatty is an artificer which would be very useful, but he is too smart for his own good! If I don''t kill him I would have to keep watch over him at all times!... But, I can''t just kill him¡­. This fatty is so interesting and funny¡­. Wait a minute! I have an idea!''


    Seeing as the small clone had no reaction, Ralfe slightly raised his head to take a peak and as he did he found the small black clone looking straight at him with shining eyes.


    ''Did it w-'' Before he could finish his thought he found that the clone charged at him and dove right into his body!


    "AAARRRRR!!" The fatty jumped up from the ground at such surprising speed it would even leave a powerful warrior like Vall amazed. He touched his back where the clone had gone into expecting to find a hole but he found that there was nothing there, he was completely fine!


    ''Was it an illusion?''


    "Hehehe it wasn''t an illusion! I''m right over here!" He felt something moving along his skin just as he heard the small mantas voice in his head.


    Ralfe quickly pulled off his robe and took off his shirt showing his soft pale skin¡­. A lot of soft and pale skin¡­ enough to make at least 2 leather armors....For horses. On his chest he found a black tattoo-like image of the little manta ray that slightly moved from side to side leaving him stunned.


    "Didn''t you say you wanted to follow me until death did us apart? Well you got your wish! Are you happy?" A large smile opened on the belly of the manta tattoo that was on his skin.


    Ralfe controlled himself not to swear and spoke after taking a deep breath "Of course! Of course! Who else can be so lucky to have a divine creature by his side .. every.. Single.. Day ¡­" Reaching the end of that sentence he was practically speaking through his teeth.


    "Well that''s all the information i needed for now. This clone will be sleeping on your body but do remember that I will still be able to see everything that is happening around you! You can go back now" As it finished speaking the black manta tattoo moved onto his forearm curling his tail around his upper arm and rested Its body on the fatties shoulder no longer speaking.


    Rafel gave a wry smile and put his clothes back on before leaving the building by himself. As he walked out the door everyone looked straight at him and noticed that the small clone was no longer there. Seeing him leave the house a burly man stopped what he was doing and came up to him.


    Vall looked behind Ralfe at the empty house and then up in the air at the giant manta that was quietly floating before moving close to the fatty starting slowly fixing his messy robe.


    "Is he gone?" Vall whispered as he came close to Ralfe.


    "N-.... yes he''s gone" When he was about to answer he felt that the tail of the little manta tattoo had tightened around his arm and he quickly corrected himself.


    "So what do you think? Is he a new divine? Can we trust him?" Vall whispered again


    "Yes it seems they have just left the ocean for the first time. We can definitely trust him, he''s the most trustworthy divine i have ever met." Ralfe felt helplessness as he spoke. Vall was surprised that the fatty had gotten such a good impression of the manta in just a few hours.


    "Hmm, even so he is still a divine of darkness. They can be very sneaky so don''t ever fully put your trust in them, but still get on his good side. Who knows? maybe if you can get on his good side our village might not be godless anymore in the future." As he said this Vall finished fixing the messy robe and left to take care of the mess the creatures had made in the village.


    "I''ll try" Ralfe didn''t know if he should laugh or cry as he let out a big sigh and started to get busy as well.


    "Hehehe little gold these humans sure are interesting" The large manta in the air spoke.


    "Hmm, interesting" A sweet voice sounded out from his back as the duo quietly watched the yellow sun slowly moving over the horizon.

 20 How dare you?!

    The manta had fallen asleep through the night and only woke up the next morning when he heard some movement on the ground underneath him. He found that most of the healthy people from the shore had walked back to the village through the night when they heard the news from the small clone the manta had sent them.


    As the two groups met there were many people that cried of happiness when they saw their loved ones still alive. Of course not everyone had survived, there were hundreds of bodies covered in cloth lined up side by side in front of the town hall. As time passed there were more and more people accumulating on that spot. They would look through each body until finding the right one and breaking down beside them. The villagers that were lucky enough to not lose anyone would quickly sit beside them helping them go through this tough time.


    Even though this was a sad scene, the big manta in the sky was feeling a little jealous at how much they cared for each other, until he felt some movement on his back. The little crab had woken up and was slowly stretching her limbs.


    ''I''m not alone anymore'' He watched as she finished stretching before moving to the side of his body and popping her head out to watch the interesting humans curiously.


    It seems they had left a part of the group back at the shore which were the injured and the ones to look after them, therefore some people were preparing to go and bring them back to the village now that the danger was taken care of.


    "It''s time for us to go little gold" the large manta said


    "Where are we going?"


    "The amount of information we can get from a mortal is limited. He told me about the cities that were close by and there is a holy city a couple of days east from here. Its primary focus is delivery but they also work with information gathering. Little gold! Let''s go meet our first divine!"


    "Hmm!" The big manta could hear the excitement in her voice.


    As the large shadow in the sky started receding the people on the ground looked up. They felt slightly relieved but at the same time they felt a bit disappointed. Even though that shadow was a bit oppressing it also made them feel safe at the same time.


    Everyone watched with conflicting emotions as the large manta moved through the air as it would underwater. The dark clouds started to gather around him obscuring him from view as he got further from the village.


    The speed they were moving might have seemed fast for the villagers but the manta had decided to move slowly towards his destination so he could see a bit of the world. At this speed they should reach the city at about half a day.


    After around an hour, as they were moving over a large grassland a sweet voice suddenly sounded from his back.


    "let me down!"


    "???? little gold you actually want to walk?" The giant creature in the sky slowed down his speed to a stop.


    the small crab lifted off his back and descended towards the large grassland underneath them. As her large pointy legs touched the floor they sank slightly into the dirt. She looked around curiously for a bit before raising her small claw.


    A large amount of dirt suddenly started gathering together about a dozen meters away, becoming a large sphere twice as big as her body leaving behind a big crater on the ground. All the plants, bugs, and stones had been filtered out as the dirt was gathering together becoming a perfect sphere of dirt.


    ''What is she doing?'' The manta thought as he watched curiously.


    Glowing gold once again the little crab started to rise off the ground with the ball of dirt following closely behind her. She floated onto the center of the manta''s back before putting down the large ball of dirt. Even though he has lost her from his vision he was still curiously watching with his mana.


    Once the large amount of dirt was safely on his back the little crab started waving her small claws side to side as the sphere of dirt started to slowly change its shape. It was only around an hour later in that he was able to finally make out what she was making. The dumbfounded manta didn''t know if he should laugh or cry.


    ''Little gold aren''t you getting a little too comfortable? How am I supposed to refute the fact I''m not your mount now if you built a house on my back!?''


    It looked like a larger version of one of the simple houses he had seen in the village. He wanted to say something but seeing her happily creating that tiny home he decided to stay quiet.


    ''My back is so large anyways so it shouldn''t be much of a bother, and it''s not like anyone can see it off the ground either, especially when I''m covered in darkness.'' He quietly waited for her until she was fully satisfied with the small one room house she had built.


    Though he said "small house" it was because he was comparing it to his own body, it was actually much larger than the original at the village as it had to fit the small crab inside of it. She might be small to the manta but when comparing her to humans she was as big as a house. Once she was satisfied she opened the door and walked in before closing it behind her.


    *Sighs...* seeing as she was finished the big manta let out a big sigh before he started moving once again.


    Even though the small crab wasn''t interested in the outside world at all, he was! The big manta would stop every time he found a new or interesting looking creature or even just a beautiful scenery which he would quietly appreciate for some time before once again going on his way.


    Just on this short trip he had seen a pitchblack lake that had no ripples on its surface, a group of mountains that seemed to have been shot through by giant bullets creating perfect tunnels from one side to the other which made a sound as if the earth itself was speaking when the wind hit it just right. The amount of different creatures he had also seen was practically uncountable, both normal animals and magical beasts.


    ''I''m very lucky to be able to see such a beautiful place with my own eyes, it''s very different from seeing it through a screen. Just being able to make some new memories already makes it worth it.'' He thought to himself as he hovered above a large mountain that had its upper half made completely out of ice as he looked down at the lands underneath.


    It actually ended up taking them a whole day before reaching the boundaries of the holy city. He was able to tell he was close once he started seeing a large amount of birds in the sky. They could see thousands of them flying together in a whirling everchanging pattern. Even the little crab came out of her house to watch that beautiful scene that reminded them of the fish in the sea.


    All of the birds were just normal animals with the exception of one. It was a white falcon with blue stripes on his wings. It didn''t follow the group of birds and instead flew straight in a certain direction. There was also a small container stuck to its leg which he knew had to contain a message for someone.


    Ralfe had told him how the city used birds to communicate quickly to other places, they worked with information after all.


    As the two went deeper into the territory they would find more and more white falcons moving around, some were even carrying small packages in their talons. The large manta could already see a large city in the distance. It looked busy as there were constantly people moving in and out of the entrance, and there were even many times more falcons flying in and out carrying things.


    What left the manta even more surprised is that the city and the roads looked very clean. He was expecting it to be covered in bird poop but it looked like they were very well trained.


    As the two got closer they suddenly felt a strong gust of wind push them back and a powerful feminen voice sounded out.


    "How dare you!? Hmph! You creatures of darkness sure are getting more and more unruly! You dare ignore the rules and come to my city in person?!" You could easily make out the hostility in her voice.


    The gust of wind had taken the manta by surprise and actually made him slightly tip to the side. It had made the flustered little crab have to react quickly not to have her small house fall apart. Once she was able to get it under control the annoyed little crab used her little claws to grab a bunch of his dark skin and pinch his back.


    ''!!!!!!'' Holding back his scream the large manta turned towards the newcomer that had appeared in front of him in anger.


    It was a beautiful blue bird with large wings and bright eyes who was a bit larger than little gold. She stared at the large manta that was covered in darkness in anger but her overall beauty made her not look intimidating at all!


    ''!!!!!!!!'' The manta suddenly felt his back being pinched once again!


    "Why??!" He asked, feeling wronged.


    "Hmphp!"


    Noticing that he wasn''t going to get an answer he brought his attention back to the bird in front of him. She was staring at him angrily waiting for an answer.


    "Ahem .. ahem ¡­ Greetings fellow divine creature!" As he spoke he released the darkness surrounding him giving the blue bird a view of his gigantic body along with the small dirt house on his back

 21 Blanta the Manta

    As that large body came into view the bluebird divine was completely stunned in place.


    "Y-you, you filthy creature of darkness! You come into my territory and try to intimidate me with your size? Do you think a bird will fear a fish in the sky?!" As she said this she shot out a powerful gust of wind that concentrated together into the shape of a light green bird that flew at incredible speeds towards the mantas forehead. She then flew to the side putting some distance between them as she tried to bring the fight away from her city.


    The bird shaped wind attack was so fast that the large manta could barely react! All he was able to do was lower his head slightly making the target miss but it was still moving straight towards his back!


    He had thought of defending with gravity itself but revealing he had this element to an unknown divine might not be a good idea so he hesitated. Fortunately there was someone who didn''t hesitate at all. As the little crab saw the attack coming towards his back a small distance from where she was, she quickly waved her little claws and her small house disintegrated like water. The sand moved quickly like a wave over the mantas back covering it in a thin layer of earth.


    As the attack was about to reach his skin the large manta was already wincing in pain. Once the bird finally smashed onto his back the small thin sand like armor rippled like the surface of a lake when a rock was thrown into it. The sand completely sucked out most of the momentum from the attack leaving only a small amount of blunt damage to reach his skin which was negligible for a creature with such a large body.


    The large manta was surprised at how sturdy her sand armor actually was, but the person who was the most shocked was the blue bird that turned around to see her attack be completely ineffective. Only now did she notice that it wasn''t one divine, there was two!


    "Y-You brought another divine with you!? Shameless! Coward!" The big bird pointed angrily at the duo as her eyes nervously switched between them and her city. The people underneath were in complete panic as they finally noticed the huge black manta in the sky. They started to run around without a destination like headless chickens.


    "Wait! Stop! We aren''t here to fight you! we are new divines and just wanted to ask some questions!" seeing as things were getting out of control he decided to quickly clarify his intentions before things got any worse.


    As she heard what he said she looked at them in suspicion. Now that she thought about it she indeed has not heard of any black manta or golden crab divines before.


    "Since you came here with your real bodies means you don''t know all the rules yet, but my city is pretty far inland from the sea so how was it the first one you came across?" she asked suspiciously.


    "We obtained some information from a human village that we passed after we left the sea. They told us about your city and that you worked with information gathering so we decided to come here to ask some questions" the large manta responded slowly trying to calm the situation.


    The large blue bird slightly frowned. Their story made perfect sense and she was inclined to believe them but for two divines to be born at once and move together was very unlikely.


    "Fine, i''ll believe you for now. You can come into the city however, you must be in your human form. That is non negotiable." As she spoke the bird flapped her large wings and started to move towards the city before she heard an excited shout from behind her.


    "O-our human forms!?? You mean we can turn into humans?!" the large manta exclaimed


    The large bird turned and stared at the duo for a few seconds before asking doubtfully "You two are really new divines huh?"


    "Yes we are!" the large manta answered as the small crab on his back nodded her head.


    ....


    "Fine, make a clone and come with me. You can make clones at least right?"


    The large manta answered by having a small black manta come out of his body and float quietly in the air. The little crab however looked a bit troubled but she decided to give it a try and pointed her small claws towards the sand on the mantas back. After a few seconds a small crab made of dirt crawled out of it with awkward movements. It was missing a few legs and its body seemed a bit blocky but it was very good for her first try.


    Noticing how the little crab was having such a hard time moving her small clone, the manta controlled his own to pick hers up with its tail and put it on his back before moving towards the bird.


    Seeing the interaction between the two the blue bird gave them a strange look before flapping her large wings and moving slowly towards her city so the small clones could keep up.


    The people on the ground also calmed down when they noticed that there wasn''t going to be a fight between the godly beings, they let out a sigh of relief before they went back to what they were doing.


    The city itself was full of people but it looked very clean and beautiful. The people seemed to have taken the love for the color blue as they used it for almost everything except for the buildings themselves which were pure white.


    As they moved forward the duo found that they were moving in the direction of a large white tower situated right at the center of the city.


    When they got close enough to the tower the blue bird also released a clone from her body which gestured to them to follow her, while her main body flew to the top of the tower where there was a large nest before she sat down comfortably and closing her eyes.


    The blue bird''s clone flew into the white tower through its many opened terraces and as she reached the ground her body shone a golden color. Her shape quickly started to change and when she finally touched the ceramic floor the bluebird clone had become a beautiful woman around her thirties with blue hair wearing a fancy blue silk dress.


    Inside the tower there was already a person there waiting for her with a small tray that contained some fruits and a cup of wine. She looked surprised as she noticed the manta clone with the small crab clone following right behind the beautiful woman into the tower.


    She of course wasn''t the only one that was surprised. The small manta clone stared at the woman that the bird clone had turned into with a fervent gaze. Even the little crab was also staring at her in interest.


    This woman picked up the wine cup from the tray before slowly making her way towards a fancy couch that faced the duo''s clone before sitting down elegantly. She smiled as she noticed their gaze and started to speak.


    "I am Edyta bluebird of the wind, of course since you are also divines you can just call me Edyta, what should i call you two?" She spoke calmly before taking a sip of her wine. Such a simple question yet it left the two speechless.


    ''Now that i think about it i still don''t have a name in this lifetime! It wasn''t necessary when it was just me and little gold but we definitely need one now! Maybe I can use the name from my last life?'' However before the manta could say anything he heard that same sweet voice coming from his back.


    "My name is little gold! And he is ..he is ¡­ .. big black!!" The small crab on his back said while feeling very proud of herself for thinking up a name for the manta on the spot.


    Seeing the strange stares from Edyta and her servant the manta clone started to explain himself. "They are nicknames! We lived in the sea so there was never really a need for names" he said feeling a little embarrassed.


    The blue haired woman looked at them with interest "How about i help you choose some then? I have lived on land for dozens of years and met many people. I believe I could come up with some good ones, what do you think?"


    The manta agreed with her as she knew much more about this world than he did. The name from earth might seem strange in this place so it''s better to have her help. Just as the manta was about to agree the little crab shouted from his back.


    "I.. I can also think of a good name for him!"


    Edyta and the servant both smiled at the comment.


    "Ok how about this. You think up a name first and we will see if he likes it, if he doesn''t it will be my turn and i''ll make a suggestion until he finds one he likes, what do you think?"


    "Ok!" the small crab quickly responded


    "Alright so since you get to pick first, you can start"


    ''D-don''t I get a say in this?'' The small manta thought helplessly.


    "Um.. bla...mant.. .. ¡­" the small crab constantly mumbled a few random words under her breath before she looked up and spoke in full confidence.


    "Blanta!" she looked very proud of what she came up with, and looked at the manta with an expectant gaze.


    ''Blanta the manta? ¡­..''


    "Cough cough¡­ how¡­ how about we hear Edyta''s suggestion first before we make a decision?" The small manta clone suggested. The two women giggled in response as little crab crossed her small arms and Harrumphed in annoyance.


    "Ok. let me think. How about, Alek?" the blue haired woman said after taking another sip of her wine.


    ''Alek the manta of darkness? That''s pretty good.''


    Seeing as he didn''t deny it outright, Edyta let out a small smile as she looked at the little crab teasingly.


    "Wait! It''s my turn now! Umm .. man. ¡­ Malik! What about Malik!?" the little crab suddenly shouted.


    ''Malik the manta of darkness that''s also pretty good!'' He knew she had only changed Edyta''s suggestion slightly by mixing it with manta but it came out surprisingly well, the name just rolled off the tongue.


    As everyone stared at him waiting for him to make his choice the little manta clone finally let out his opinion. "I think .. i think Malik is a good name."


    Once he made his choice the little earth crab made a victory pose happily while the bluebird woman made a sulky look with her face.


    "Fine fine i guess i lose. Now the little crab is the only one missing a name, should i think of one for her as well?"


    "Ahem, no need i already have a name for her. Mina the golden earth crab." the small black clone said.


    "Mina? It''s simple but it''s still a pretty good name, looks like you are pretty good at this" She was genuinely surprised as she assumed his naming ability would be like the little crabs.


    "Well I guess it just came to me" He said embarrassingly. He definitely would never say that it was the name that he gave his imaginary girlfriend from his last life!


    "So what do you think little gold? Do you like it?"


    The small crab on his back quickly nodded her head a couple of times before saying "I like it! I like it!"


    Seeing the interaction between the two Edyta lips curled into a small smile before she decided to get to business.


    "So you came here because you wanted to ask some questions right? Well that is exactly what we work with here at my divine wind city! But you have to remember that this is a business, give and take. So Mina, Malik, what did you bring to pay for the information that you need" She said with a teasing look.


    "uhh..."

 22 But why is it so.....?

    Honestly he hadn''t really thought that far. He was able to get what he needed from the villagers because he was divine but, this time he was also dealing with one as well!


    "Ahem ¡­ how about you, put it on my tab and I''ll pay it later?" He asked shamelessly.


    "Hehe, no way, but I do have a job I need your help with in the future, what do you think?'' Edyta said with a smile.


    "What would i have to do?" the manta clone asked suspiciously. He didn''t have much of a choice anyways he was completely broke!


    "In three months there will be a large auction at the marshlands and I was able to get a few contracts with powerful people to escort them there and back. I would have been able to handle this with only my people but there have been many attacks against humans around this area. So my proposition is that when you are set up and have your own chosen you will send a few to help me with my escort job. It''s simple right? What do you think?." She looked at him expectantly.


    "Why don''t you go yourself or send a clone?" He asked curiously. How can beasts that haven''t reached divinity be able to threaten a divine?


    Edyta rolled her eyes at his question before responding "And leave my city which is my foundation open to attacks? Also just because they are your clones doesn''t mean you can just go out killing mortal creatures with it you know?. Mortal problems can only be solved by other mortals that is the unwritten rule in the enlightened continent. Let''s say you kill a few mortal creatures with your clone and then one day a divine shows up at your door challenging you to a death battle because you shamelessly killed his chosen then what??"


    "Creatures can be chosen too?!"


    "Of course they can! Why wouldn''t they? And they can quickly strengthen themselves by consuming strong humans as well! That''s why divines that have creatures as followers are usually followers of the church of darkness and make their dens hidden away in mountains or underground."


    As he heard that he couldn''t help but think back to the creatures that were attacking the villagers which he had wiped out when he left the sea. ''Surely I''m not that unlucky right?''


    "So do you agree?" Edyta asked once again


    "Of course! I agree! I Malik give you my word" The small manta said as he gave a small bow and motioned with his tail.


    "Oooh what a gentleman!" she smiled at the manta


    "So ahem, how can i turn into a human?" He asked, seeing as the payment was agreed to.


    Edyta looked at him strangely "I don''t understand why you want to learn how to change into a human so much, there isn''t much use for it other than convenience. The only other thing that all that we get is a sharp drop in our strength since we lose our powerful bodies, which is why we divines only turn with our clones and never our real bodies"


    "Wait? didn''t you tell us to turn into humans to follow into the city?" he asked, confused.


    "Of course. If you two had turned into humans when you had told me you were new divines and had never met other divines i would have known you were lying. So I would take advantage of it and attack once you had completely turned." she spoke with a smile on her face that gave the duo goosebumps.


    After answering the question she started with her explanation "The human body is the perfect body created by the heavens. It is able to practice martial arts and use and craft powerful weapons, but the heavens are fair so while they have those two advantages their bodies don''t get the ability to control elements when they are born like we can." After speaking she downed the rest of her wine cup before she continued.


    "To change your body you must control your life force through every muscle,bone,skin and even hair. Once you succeed you will have every part of your body under your control, all you have to do from there is rearrange, resize, and restructure everything into a human body. It sounds complicated but as you work you will feel as if there is something helping you through the process so just follow that feeling. Also don''t try this with your real body first because if you fail there could be some permanent damage. So who wants to go first?"


    The manta clone shuddered as he heard permanent damage and pictured a strange manta human blob that looked like a failed experiment that would constantly shout in a wheezy voice "kill meeee"


    As he was hesitating he heard a sweet voice shout from his back "Mee! I''ll go first!" The manta was ashamed that she was going before him and wanted to protest but he wasn''t able to make any sounds, that picture in his mind had truly terrified him.


    "Ooo, looks like we know who is the most courageous of you two huh?" Edyta said as she looked at the manta clone with a teasing gaze


    "Ok, get in front of me. I''ll help you through the process since it''s your first time so you don''t have to worry"


    The little crab rose her body off the manta clone and landed in front of the beautiful lady while facing the small manta


    Edyta put her cup of wine back on the tray of her servant and got off the couch before moving right behind the little crab and put both her hands on her back.


    "Ok, try and move your life force through your whole body and once you do that i will help you with the next step."


    The small crab nodded and closed both her eyes before her body started to glow a golden color. After some time you could see the light started to slowly change shape. The process took a few minutes when the small manta noticed Edyta started to frown, the golden light became unstable before it completely went out. She had only finished with the legs when the process was interrupted making the legs she had created break into fine sand and fall onto the floor. Now that she lost all of her legs the small clone was just a crab head with two claws. Seeing she had failed the little crab looked sad and disappointed.


    "It''s fine don''t worry. Honestly you would have succeeded if not for the fact that you aren''t very experienced in making clones yet. As long as you practice a bit more it shouldn''t be a problem for you to gain your human form" Edyta said as she tried to encourage her but the bloky crab head said nothing as she was sulking quietly.


    Seeing her face the small manta felt guilty and decided to try it as well "I-i want to try it as well"


    Edyta looked up at the manta clone and said with a smile "Sure but since you went second i won''t be helping you"


    The manta was a bit disappointed but if he failed at least it would put little gold in a better mood anyways so he wasn''t worried anymore.


    "Ok here I go" Once he said that his body started to glow a golden color as he slowly passed his life force through every inch of his body. The little crab stopped sulking and stared at the process curiously.


    Finishing up this step he started to rearrange, restructure and resize. He felt the helping hand that Edyta mentioned that was slowly guiding him through the process. However as he kept going he started to feel that he didn''t need help at all! He had been a human his previous life after all so he was very familiar with the human body! The process took only 2 minutes before the golden light that had shaped itself into a human shape started to dim and eventually go out.


    There stood a tall young adult around 18 years old with a handsome face that was actually the same as the one he had in his previous life. He had straight black hair that went down to his back, The black itself was so dark that it reflected no light. There was also a thin ponytail that reached down to his lower back. His skin was white but it was a white that was just bordering a sickly pale color, but fortunately he had a pretty well built body which countered the sickly look of his skin. What stood out the most however was his eyes that had a beautiful violet color that seemed to shine in the darkness.


    The manta clone felt a little emotional when he was finally finished. He looked at his arm and hands before clenched his fists. ''I''m finally able to move my hands, my fingers, and stand with my own two feet!!''


    As he was immersed in his emotions he heard some giggling. When he looked up he found that the little crab stump was pointing her small claw at his body while laughing.


    "Ha! You messed up too! Look! you left your tail behind and it even moved to the front! But why is it.....so small?" That sweet voice asked in confusion.


    As he heard her he was puzzled but he also noticed Edyta from the corner of his eyes laughing while avoiding eye contact with him and her servant had blocked both her eyes with one of her hands.


    He looked down at himself still in a daze and finally realized he was in his birthday suit! His white skin turned completely red as he willed his darkness element to become a black robe around his body almost instantly.


    "It''s not small ok? Its normal size! Normal size!" He shouted with his face as red as a tomato.


    Both Edyta and her servant couldn''t help but laugh out loud as they heard him while the little crab looked around confused at everyone''s reactions.

 23 It would be a shame if....

    cough cough "Anyways I still have some more questions." The attractive man with violet eyes said seriously trying to change the subject.


    Edyta wiped her eyes that had teared up from laughing and took a second to control herself before gesturing for him to keep going.


    "Chosen! How do you make them? How do they work? And people''s talent for each element is also something I need to know."


    "Aah. Chosen, of course. Look at kaya here, she is actually one of my Chosen." Edyta said as she pointed her hand towards the servant that had also just stopped laughing.


    As he turned his attention towards the girl he was surprised. He hadn''t noticed it before since he was so focused on being able to turn human. This girl looked to be in her early 20s with dark blue hair though her eyebrows were still black, and on her back was a pair of beautiful blue bird wings!


    ''Bird woman? Are there different races in this world as well?''


    "You noticed her wings right? That''s what my Chosen gain once they go through the process. Many people prefer winged divines for this reason. With wings you generally have a big advantage over anything on land." she proudly explained


    As he heard what she said the little manta was surprised. Ralfe had told them that the chosen would change their body to look more like their divine but he didn''t think it would go so far as to grow a pair of wings!


    ''Would my divine also grow a pair of wings?'' he said to himself as he thought back to his stumpy fin wings..


    ''No no no they definitely won''t inherit those right?'' he shook his head to dismiss the strange image.


    "The changes are different for every divine so you can''t really know exactly what will happen until it is already done." She spoke with a smile as if knowing exactly what he was thinking.


    "If birds have an advantage here on the land then what about us creatures from the sea?" The little crab stump that was on the ground asked curiously.


    Edyta gave a wry smile as she spoke "Well your Chosen have complete advantage in the water as they can breathe under it and might move faster as well, but when it comes to land you have the biggest disadvantage because of your speed. That''s why aquatic creatures are actually said to be the weakest. Though there are exceptions of course. For example Lagos the skullfish of light, his chosen gain a tough armored body and have an organ that enhances light attacks built onto their foreheads."


    ''....''


    ''Err there''s no way it''s the same kind of skull fish right? Well, Actually¡­. even if it was, so what? We don''t necessarily need to be enemies right?'' After dismissing the thought he strangely found that the small crab clone had no reaction at all when their long time enemies were mentioned.


    Little gold frowned at her answer but he wasn''t worried at all. He had the element of gravity so his speed should be uncontested as long as his control was good enough and little gold is defence oriented anyways so she shouldn''t have any problem either.


    "But do make sure to pick your Chosen correctly as you only have a limited amount and they aren''t easily replaced. Since you are a new god you are at the first tier low demigod stage so you should be able to keep around 13 chosen at once."


    "How many tiers and stages are there?" He asked curiously.


    "So there are 10 tiers in each stage and there are a total of 3 stages which are low,mid, and high. At each tier you are able to make three more chosen without hurting your foundation. So once you reach the 10th tier peak demigod stage you would have 100 Chosen total."


    "And after demigod stage is the god stage?"


    "Well, yes it should be but I''ve never heard of a god being born either on the enlightened continent or the wild lands¡­.. There are rumors the church of light and church of darkness have gods at the top but no one has ever seen them before." Edyta answered with a strange look on her face.


    ''The two churches are more powerful than I thought but, it''s not like I''m trying to be the strongest anyways so as long as i stay out of their way and not gather much attention to myself it shouldn''t be any problem.'' Malik quietly thought to himself.


    "Ok but what about human talent in the elements, how can i tell who has it and how much?"


    "Oh It''s very simple. Every living thing has life force inside their body. You need to insert the pure element carefully inside of them and see how much their body will hold before it starts to disperse. If the amount of element their body holds is equal to or more than the amount of lifeforce they have it means they are talented in that element. Anything less than that means they aren''t." The blue haired woman sitting on the couch carefully explained.


    "Is there any way to better people''s talent in a certain element?" He asked after thinking for a few seconds


    Edyta gave a wry smile before she started speaking. "Indeed there is, when you have chosen where you will set up your base you can make a domain by placing down a totem at the center of where your people live. A totem will disperse out your elements over time in a certain way that is not harmful to humans which will improve their talent in those elements over each generation along with some other benefits. The problem however is that the wood necessary for creating a totem is too rare and expensive. They are from a large tree that used to grow anywhere regardless of biome since all they needed to survive was having access to mana but, once divines found its use it practically became extinct. They are so rare that not only was I not able to get my hands on one but I have never even seen what it looks like!" She was practically shouting at the end as if venting out her frustrations.


    ''Hmmm, i might as well just forget it then¡­ wait a minute.''


    "What exactly do the trees look like?" he asked seriously.


    "Um, other than its size? Hmm, oh i did hear that the density of mana around it should be a bit higher than normal so there will always be a group of magical beasts living around it and protecting it at all times and because of the same reason no trees will grow around it for a few kilometers"


    Maliks eyes shone hearing her explanation.''That tree underwater should be the one she is talking about!! But I need to be careful, The tree is too precious so we can''t let anyone know!'' Putting on his best poker face he was about to change the topic when he felt a burning gaze on his body. The small crab clone stump was staring at him with a pair of obvious shining eyes without making any effort of concealing her happiness.


    ''The heck! You had no reaction when she spoke about the skull fish so why are you reacting so obviously now!?'' he felt like throwing up blood especially when he saw how Edyta was looking at him once she noticed little gold''s reaction.


    "Now that i think about it the tree can indeed grow in any biome but, i don''t think anyone has ever thought of looking for it underwater so the chances of there being at least one growing there should be pretty high." She continued her answer.


    The little sand crab became even more excited as she gave him a very obvious look of "It really is that tree! We know where it is!"


    A beautiful smile blossomed on Edyta''s face as she saw her reaction and then turned to stare straight at him as if waiting for an explanation.


    ''She has no proof! And though she is bad at hiding it, even little gold knows that it''s a secret so as long as I don''t say anything it should be fine!'' Malik stayed quiet and held his poker face as straight as he could.


    For a few seconds they both stared at each other quietly. One with a beautiful smile and the other with an emotionless face.


    Seeing as this wasn''t going anywhere the smile on the blue haired woman''s face turned into a frown before she started to speak. "You know even if you did know the location of one of these trees you wouldn''t know how to process it into a totem anyways and a full grown one would be able to be made into at least 20 totems. Therefore your best course of action would be to first find a middleman preferably one that works with information that could teach you the process and to quietly sell the rest of the unused lumber."


    "...."


    "..... It would also be very unfortunate if a certain rumor was to be spread of the possibility of one of these trees being found by two newborn divines¡­"


    "You know now that I think about it, I might have seen a tree just like that one underwater!" The black haired man exclaimed loudly in surprise.


    A smile once again appeared on the beautiful woman''s face as she made a surprised face and spoke "AAA! that''s amazing! You don''t have to worry though, since you decided to trust me with this information I will never let a third person know! I''ll even explain to you how to create a totem and help you sell the excess wood! All for the low price of one small piece!"


    He let out a wry smile as he scratched the back of his head ''Do I even have a choice?''


    Their conversation lasted for a few hours as she also explained to them the complicated process of how to create a Chosen and totem along with many other things that a divine needed to know especially the rules that the churches enforced on the continent.


    It was only late at night that they finished their conversation and when they were about to leave Edyta handed them both a small letter and told them that if they wanted to participate all they needed to do was contact her. The human manta clone nodded his head as he grabbed both the letters and the small crab clone stump before he flew out the white tower towards the big black cloud that was hidden in the dark night sky.


    As they got on the large mantas back the little crab shook her head in disappointment before she started to speak.


    sighs "It''s a good thing she is a nice person but it was still dangerous to tell someone else about the tree! You should let me do the talking next time!"


    ''... The heck!''

 24 I have a name you know!

    As the two quickly made their way back to the village a handsome humanoid clone that was sitting on the mantas back was staring intensely at the letter in front of him that he had gotten from the blue bird divine.


    Sighs ''It''s just as I feared, I can''t read! Fortunately I waited to open the letter after I left or Edyta might have laughed at me!'' Speaking wasn''t a problem since he could do it through mana but that wasn''t possible on a piece of paper!


    ''I should be able to learn the language quickly as long as I have a teacher. I''ll speak to the villagers once everything is straightened out''


    Half an hour later they finally reached the village. He was relieved to find that everything was still normal. He had been a bit worried that the bison beasts would have come back for revenge but fortunately nothing happened.


    His large body slowly moved to his spot over the village unnoticed under the cover of the night sky. Looking down at the houses covered in darkness he started to reminisce on all the things he had been through to get where he is today. The feeling of helplessness in his last life, the feeling of excitement and danger from the battles in the sea, also all the living beings he met over this period of time.


    ''I wonder how my manta brothers and grandpa manta is doing.'' He thought to himself quietly without noticing his thinking was quickly slowing down until he eventually fell asleep without even realizing.


    As his body fully relaxed so did the mana covering it. The cold strong winds high up in the air quickly found an opening and rushed into his large open manta mouth. At first there was a quiet humming sound but as time passed the noise became louder and louder eventually becoming a howling noise that sounded like screaming ghosts and demons!


    It didn''t take very long for the whole village to be startled awake as many small children started crying. Very quickly the dark village was completely lit up with people leaving their homes scared and confused. Fortunately this wasn''t the first time this happened as the large manta had fallen asleep over the village a day before so the warriors that stayed behind were already familiar with the sound.


    After explaining to everyone that it came from the divine creature that saved them suddenly the strange noise didn''t seem so scary anymore. They then went back inside their houses to comfort their crying children by telling them how the scary sound was to keep the bad monsters away. An hour later the whole village was once again covered in darkness.


    Early in the morning the large manta woke up feeling well rested and after stretching his large body he made another human clone. Making his way to the sandhouse he was about to call the little crab when he noticed two small sand crab clones making strange movements just outside of the earth house.


    ''Is she practicing? Wait did she even sleep? They certainly look much better than the one she made before. Forget it, let''s not bother her, I''ll just go by myself.'' Smiling to himself Malik quietly left and after reaching the side of the large manta body he covered himself in the golden mana before floating down to the village center where people had already started to gather.


    Seeing something coming down from the black cloud the villagers started pointing and talking excitedly until the old village head made them quiet down.


    As the handsome man touched down onto the floor everyone stared at him curiously. His inky black hair going down his back along with his pale white skin already made him very different from anyone the villagers had ever seen, however as they stared into his violet eyes that gave him a mysterious and slightly evil look made many of the women feel their hearts fluttering which prompter them to quickly looked away.


    "Y-Young master you?" The village head at the front of the crowd was the first to speak.


    The handsome man turned towards him with a big smile and nodded his head slightly.


    The old chief was dazed for a second before getting quickly down on his knees followed by every other villager.


    "We thank your holiness for saving our people" The old man said out loud touching his forehead onto the floor followed by every other villager.


    Seeing how honest and sincere they all were he silently gave the villagers a thumbs up in his heart.


    "It''s fine, the information you gave us was also very useful so we are even. Actually I gained much more than I thought I would from my visit so I have decided that you deserve a reward! We will even allow you to choose it yourself." Giving them a bright smile he looked straight at the old chief who had raised his head in surprise.


    ''Hehe having me be the one to ask to be their villages divine would be kind of strange but if they ask me instead ¡­ genius! I''m a genius!'' He thought to himself as he quietly waited as the chief sorted out his thoughts.


    ''A reward from a new divine! Isn''t this exactly what we needed? Can''t I just ask him to become the divine of the village?''


    ''Mhmm mhmm, go on'' While reading his thoughts the handsome man excitedly waited for him to ask the question.


    ''Hmm, but wouldn''t that be too much? He already saved our people. How can I ask him to become the village''s divine?''


    ''Wait no, I definitely don''t mind if you ask me you know?''


    ''Yes it would be too much for me to ask such a thing for him i should come up with something else''


    ''The heck! just give it a try i''ll definitely agree don''t be shy!''


    Sighs ''We lost a lot of men on the last attack and without a divine we can no longer protect ourselves. I guess I can just ask him to escort us as we move into a different city, as outsiders we will probably have to start as slaves but it''s certainly better than dying'' Reaching his decision the old chief looked up and started to speak.


    ''Wait! That''s not what was supposed to happen!''


    "Since you have graciously decided to give us a reward, I wish to ask of you to esco-" Before he was able to finish his sentence, the old chief was interrupted by a loud shout.


    "Please be the village''s Divine!" It was the voice of a young man that quickly making his way through the crowd.


    The old man was startled to find it was his only grandson Jino!


    Reaching the side of his grandfather the young man lowered his head and shouted once again "We are one of the biggest godless villages you will find and we even have an artificer! We can be of much use to you as long as you give us a chance!"


    The old chief turned towards the attractive man and found that he was looking at him while frowning. He quickly gave his grandson a smack upside the head. "I''m sorry! Please forgive my grandson he is y-" Once again he wasn''t able to finish his sentence as he was interrupted, but this time it was by the handsome man standing in front of him!


    "I will have to first speak with Mina and if she agrees I believe that is a possibility, after all I did promise you a reward."


    The old chief looked at him stunned before asking unconsciously "Mina???


    The handsome man let out a smile before answering "Mina is my good fr¡­ my companion. Yes, she is called Mina the golden earth crab. Oh by the way I am called Malik, Malik the manta of darkness. I will speak with her and once we have made our decision I will let you know" After he finished speaking his body glowed a golden color once again before rising into the air towards the dark cloud in the sky leaving all the villagers stunned in place.


    ''These are divine creatures! Why did it feel like they were buying clothes on promotion of buy 1 get 1 free?!''


    As the people came out of their daze a scream of happiness was heard in the crowd followed by another and eventually everyone was jumping up and down and celebrating.


    This world was just too dangerous! Who knows if a powerful creature would just show up one day at the village and decided to have a quick snack? The only way that you could have any kind of security is by having a divine looking over your home which was the dream of many people since joining a city with one was practically impossible! The only way they would allow in outsiders is if they willingly became their slaves!


    As he reached the top of his original body he made his way to the small house and called out excitedly.


    "Little gold they asked us to be the divine of their village! Aaa it''s going to be amazing! I already have so many ideas!"


    "....."


    "Little gold did you hear me? They asked us to be their divine creature!"


    "..."


    "Uhh¡­ little gold?" The handsome man called out in confusion seeing as there was no reaction.


    "I have a name now you know! I''m not little gold!" An annoyed shout was heard from inside the sandhouse.


    "Oh, ahem ahem.. M-mina?"


    ''Why is this so embarrassing? it''s just her first name! What am i japanese?''


    "Yes Malik?" The house door opened and a small crab clone walked out.


    "The villagers asked us to be their village''s Divine! what do you think?"


    The small crab thought for a few seconds before nodding "hmmm, I agree. These humans are very weak after all they need someone to look after them"


    "Great! Should we split the village and we each get half to make into our domain?"


    "Actually, about that¡­. I''ve been thinking and i think it''s time we go our separate ways" The small clone said after letting out a small sigh.


    "?????"


    "I thought about this for a while now and i made my decision last night." As she said this the door of the small house opened once again and the original body of the golden crab came out and started to speak.


    "We are adults now, we can''t always be together" She said with a hint of sadness in her voice.


    "But, so soon? Do you even have a place to go?"


    "Hmm. I found a place yesterday when you were asleep, I was only waiting for you to wake up before I left." As she finished speaking her body started to glow a golden color before rising into the air along with the small clone and even the sandhousel house she had built started to rise along with her.


    "This¡­" He was completely speechless and though deep down he knew that one day they might separate he didn''t think it would be so soon!


    Watching her body moving through the air he felt a loneliness suddenly overcome him. They have always been together and part of him wanted to believe that this is how it would always be! If she leaves now when will he see her again?


    After several thoughts passed through his mind he finally made a decision! She could have the village for all he cared; he just wanted to be by her side!


    "Little gold! No, MINA! I- COUGH COUGH!" As he started to speak he quickly swallowed his words when he saw that she had put down her little house on a small mountain a few kilometers from the village. Due to the large size of his body and the fact that he was floating she was basically right next to him!


    "You what?" she looked at him curiously.


    "Nothing! Nothing! I''ll tell them we agreed to stay" He said feeling embarrassed.


    "Hmm" She let out a small nod nodded before going into her small house and closing the door


    Fortunately she couldnt see through the darkness that was covering the humanoid clone. His pale skin had fully turned beet red all the way up to his ears.


    ''No wonder people tend to write letters in anime. I thought my heart was going to explode!'' scratching the back of his head he let out a wry smile. Seeing the state of his human clone the manta decided to let the villagers know his decision later that day.

 25 Im not jealous....

    Night in the village was filled with celebration after the black haired young man came down in the evening to inform them that both him and the golden crab divine were going to stay for good. The old chief instantly declared that this day every year was going to be a holiday as to praise the divines that chose their village.


    The people were so happy they brought out food from all over the place along with barrels of booze from god knows where. Eventually even musicians joined in bringing out small instruments injecting even more life into the party. The burly man Val was surprisingly right at the front of the makeshift small stage and not only was he playing a small guitar but he even started to sing!


    Malik''s handsome clone quietly watched the people dancing and laughing with his violet eyes through a window together with a small crab clone that was sitting on his shoulders watching curiously. The house they were in had been given to them by the village chief once they told him that he and little gold would leave a clone behind in the village for convenience in case they needed to speak with them.


    The old man told him it was a vacant house that was initially built for the future village head which was his son, but after he lost his wife and mother they decided to move back in with him leaving the large house empty.


    As they went deeper into the night all of the parents eventually left with their children leaving only the young couples behind. Val was quick on his feet and noticing the change of the audience he turned his head before winking at the other musicians which quickly changed their tune. The music became slower and romantic, setting up the perfect mood for the young couples.


    Seeing this change Malik smiled to himself. He had been single for two lifetimes now but seeing these young couples didn''t make him jealous at all! Why, you ask? Well it wouldn''t be long for him to have his own dance partner! And not only that but from her voice he was sure she was going to be a beauty! All he needed was a little patience!


    Taking a small peak at the sleeping clone on his shoulder he grinned before turning back to the party however he quickly noticed something strange that wiped the grin off his face, an anomaly if you will. In the middle of the dancefloor there was a dumpling-like human moving about that stood out very obviously from all the young couples.


    As his eyes landed on the figure which he quickly recognized him! Who was it if not fatty Ralfe! He was slow dancing with a very attractive girl around 18 years old that was constantly smiling as he whispered words into her ear showing her cute dimples .


    ''The hell?! H-How is this even possible?!'' He was completely speechless. Could it be that this world''s beauty standard is fatties?


    After watching for a few more seconds to make sure he wasn''t hallucinating, the handsome man turned his eyes away and left the window while murmuring a few words quietly to himself.


    "I''m not jealous.. I''m not jealous at all.." He said while fighting the urge to plunge the village into darkness and ruin the party before turning away and leaving.


    It was only deep into the night that the people finally started running out of steam. As the food ran out and the music stopped everyone headed home and just half an hour later the whole village was completely wrapped in darkness.


    Malik however was still working in the study room that was in complete darkness, nighttime on the continent was practically daylight if he compared it to the seafloor after all. The room itself was pretty large and there were even a couple of shelves filled with books against the wooden wall none of which he could read. It wasn''t too pretty but nevertheless he was still very happy with it. A powerful man needs a study room with a library to be truly complete after all.


    Sitting in front of a desk he was constantly writing on a large parchment paper with a quill. Everything was in english of course since he still had yet to learn the local language. He would sit quietly for a few minutes going through his memories for novels, mangas, animes where the MC was in charge of building a city before putting ideas down on the paper.


    The reason for this was that he had spoken with the chief before the party and they set up a meeting with all the important people to discuss the future of the village the next day, and what better place to get ideas from than from the novels, animes, and manga that were based exactly on what he was experiencing?.


    The small crab clone had been watching curiously as he scribbled on the paper for a few minutes before dozing off on the corner of the desk. It had been created with a very small amount of mana with the sole purpose of being used for communication like a telephone so it couldn''t interact too much before having to fall asleep to recharge.


    It was only when the sun started to peak over the horizon that he finally stopped. Taking a last look at the parchment he nodded in satisfaction before rolling it up and getting up off his chair, not forgetting to put the small crab back on his shoulder before leaving the house.


    Outside there was still no one awake probably due to the party but there was someone he just had to meet at this time.


    Malik made his way through the village before stopping in front of a large wooden house that was almost as big as the one he was living in now before walking to the door and knocking lightly a few times with a smile on his face. After waiting for a few seconds he knocked a bit more just as lightly, it was almost as if he wasn''t expecting the person to hear it at all.


    Seeing there was no answer his smile became even wider and after he cleared his throat he shouted using his mana while controlling it to effect just this one house.


    "HELLOOO?? ANYBODY HOME?!" The mana pulse was so loud it left the house shaking. He heard many things rattling and falling before hearing a loud thump along with the scream of a girl and a man.


    Hearing the loud commotion he felt truly satisfied and calmly waited as the heavy footsteps finally reached the door. As it opened he found a fair skin fatty completely shirtless with huge bags under his eyes staring at him with an aggrieved expression


    "Y-Your godliness what are you doin- I mean, what can I help you with?" The fatty asked doing his best to hide the irritation in his heart, but how could a divine being not see it? Though it had just made him even happier.


    "Oh was I interrupting something? You see we used to live on the ocean floor so we don''t really have a concept of time, though I did make sure it was bright out before coming and even knocked a few times." The handsome man said looking apologetically.


    "Of course not! I was just going to get up anyways! Please come in!" Although he felt something was amiss, Ralfe put it to the back of his mind as he led the handsome man to the living room.


    ''Hmm, This holiness has been single for 2 lifetimes and this shameless fatty dares to show off in front of me? Hehehe'' Malik thought to himself before sitting on a comfortable couch acting as if he hadn''t noticed the light blue dress laying on the corner of the room. It was the dress that the cute dimpled girl that was dancing with the fatty was wearing yesterday!


    "Good! You see, Edyta has given me and Mina 2 letters but we haven''t been able to read it yet since we don''t know the continent''s language. Therefore I looked for you to read it out for me!" The handsome man said while taking out two small letters from the pockets of his black robes before handing it to the fatty.


    Being slightly dazed from the lack of sleep Ralfe took a second to process the information before taking envelopes and sitting down on another couch facing the violet eyed man. He made sure to open it carefully so as to not damage the candle wax crest before taking out the letter and carefully reading through it.


    Malik noticed that the fatties face was becoming more and more awake as he read and by the end a blush came back to his face and even his eye bags were gone!


    ''Magic stamina recovering words???''


    As he was watching Raffles face curiously and wondering what magic could have such an effect when the fatty suddenly jumped up and said with a surprised and excited expression.


    "This isn''t just a letter! It''s an invitation!! An invitation for the Century Tournament at Burning City a year from now!!!"

 26 The Holy tournamen

    Ralfe looked up from the letter of invitation as he heard Malik''s confused voice and found him deep in thought.


    "Oh! Forgive me! It slipped my mind that your holiness had come from the sea!" The fatty quickly lowered his head as if asking for forgiveness though not very far as his body shape wouldn''t allow it.


    "It''s fine, just explain." The black haired man said as he waved his hand, not caring whatsoever.


    Ralfe quickly sprung back up and started to explain in excitement.


    "The Holy tournament is the biggest tournament for Chosen in the whole enlightened continent! I heard that an invitation was extremely hard to get and even the powerful divines would pay a huge sum for it, yet your holiness was able to easily get one! that''s amazing!" He said with his eyes shining in admiration.


    ''Looks like that bluebird is nicer than she looks, at least now I know she didn''t rip me off.''


    Seeing that the young man wasn''t going to explain, Ralfe cleared his throat and continued with his explanation.


    "Ahem, The Burning Light City is owned by Kong the sun monkey divine with the elements of fire and light. They only send out 100 invitations two years before the tournament takes place and if sold at an auction they can go for up to a low demigod beast core in price!" You could basically see money signs in Ralfe''s eyes as he stared at the invitation.


    Malik frowned and quickly swiped the invitation out of Ralfe''s hands before asking "What makes this so expensive? Aren''t I a low demigod divine? So doesn''t that mean this invitation is basically worth my life?"


    Realizing he almost let his greed take over, Ralfe scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.


    "Not exactly. A living divine would be worth more than just the core of one and also they can''t be sold especially in the enlightened continent as long as both of the churches remain in power, though the rules don''t apply if the cores are from the wildlands though."


    The black haired young man nodded and urged him to continue.


    "The last reason is the prizes! After all, how can there be a tournament with no prizes? Every tournament there is something different but it''s always something extremely valuable even for Divines!" He said, not realizing he had gone back into teacher mode.


    "Like what exactly?" Malik asked curiously.


    "Ancient artifacts, Invitations, Cores of powerful divines are some of the prizes from the past that I heard but these are all rumors after all. The prizes are not for the chosen taking place but the divines behind them so how could I get any detailed information on a transaction between divines? I''m merely an artificer that was in line to become a Chosen after all." Ralfe sighed in hopelessness.


    "I see." He said while feeling a bit disappointed but he was still satisfied with the amount of information the fatty had given him.


    ''No wonder these invitations are so valuable. I wouldn''t be surprised if there were divines that would even kill for these. I''m not innocent enough to believe that just the Church''s names are enough of a deterrent to hold back the evil and sneaky divines. Wait now that I think about it?''


    "What does he gain?"


    "???"


    "Putting out so many benefits and such valuable prizes, what does the sun monkey gain from this to make it worth it?" Malik asked the question that started to bother him, these aren''t charities after all.


    "He''s the one that gains the most from this. Ask any of the villagers here and see which one of them doesn''t know of the holy tournament and the sun monkey divine? Isn''t that one of the most important things for demigods? To have their names spread to as many living beings as possible?" The fatty responded with a smile.


    ''He''s right! What a genius way to spread your name! With the amount of people that know of the tournament how strong must he be now? If even one of these things work out maybe my name will be known to even the small villages in the corners of the continent just like his'' He thought touching the scroll under his robe that he had written last night.


    "Go get ready, the village will be having an important meeting later. I''ll be waiting for you at the village center." The black haired young man said as he got up off the couch and moved to the door. He had gotten all the information he needed also he could clearly see a dimpled face looking and him stealthy from the top of the stairs that was making him feel uncomfortable.


    As he left the house and closed the door he looked up at the sun and calculated it should be around 7 am. Though it was a bit early he headed towards the village center with the small crab sleeping soundly on his shoulder. He could use the extra time to think up some more ideas before everyone arrived.


    Walking through the village he found there were many people already awake going around each with a bucket in their hands towards the village well. They all of course stopped as soon as they noticed him and lowered their heads greeting him with words like your holiness, your godliness, master ect. ect.


    ''I should establish a way for them to call me as well. All these names are a bit awkward'' He quietly thought to himself as he reached the large wooden building at the village center. It was the same building they used as a last defense when they were being attacked by the bison beasts. The ceiling still had a hole on it and some parts were broken as well but he noticed someone had done a quick fix with some boards and the inside looked to have been cleaned as well.


    Walking in he found he really was the first one there so he sat down at the end of a large table that was made by putting together many other tables and gently picked up the small crab on his shoulder before putting it down on the table a bit to the side. Fortunately there was some ink and a pen on a corner he could use which wasn''t a surprise since this place was basically used for meetings.


    After unrolling the scroll he put it down on the table before picking up a feathered pen and dabbing it in the small pot of ink on the table before starting to write. For some time the only sound in the large wooden house was the sound of a pen meeting a leather scroll.


    Only half an hour later was when the first 2 people finally showed up. It was the village head along with his grandson Jino.


    When they noticed that Malik was in there waiting for them they were both startled. The meeting was supposed to take place before lunch so they showed up a couple of hours earlier to tidy up the place yet they were still late.


    The two lowered their heads and apologized and only stood up when the young divine said it was fine and that he came early on purpose to work on something.


    They sighed in relief and sat down next to each other on the other opposite side of the table and quietly watched as the young man continued to write without paying them any attention. They both felt like they should say something but what should they say? What conversation could a village person have with a divine being that wasn''t even human?


    As the time passed the complete silence made the two start to feel a heaviness in the air which of course was all in their heads. It only became heavier and heavier with each passing minute making them start to think that the divine might be displeased with them for some reason which made the pressure feel even worse. The old village head wanted to break the silence but he had nothing important to say, fortunately Jino did have something he wanted to talk to him about later when they were alone however this pressure was getting too uncomfortable for him so he decided to say it now instead.


    The young man got up off the chair and stood up before lowering his head and asked in a loud voice. "Your holiness please make me one of your Chosen!"

 27 How can someone be so untalented?!

    "Cough! Cough! are you stupid? How can becoming a Chosen be as simple as you asking him! It''s him who chooses you dumb kid! I''m sorry master he is too young and stupid ill have a talk with him later!" The old man shouted as he smacked Jino on the back of the head.


    Looking up from the scroll the attractive man turned his deep purple eyes towards the two which gave them both goosebumps. Edyta had taught him how to check for talent and he actually wanted to give it a try so why not do it now? He raised his hand to stop the old man''s anger before he had a sudden heart attack.


    "It''s fine, I don''t mind it. Also call me young master from now on and make sure to let the villagers know that as well. And you, come here" He said pointing his finger at Jino.


    The two become nervous but Jino moved quickly not wanting to upset the powerful divine and stood by his side.


    "Give me your hand" He said as he extended his open hand forward.


    Jino was confused but he quickly put his hand inside the young man''s hand. He was surprised to find how pale and soft it was which was completely different from all the other men in the village that constantly worked with tools the whole day, it could even be easily mistaken for a girl''s hand.


    Malik''s left eye twitched slightly as he noticed what Jino was thinking but he chose to ignore it.


    "It might hurt a bit but just hold on." he said as he inserted the pure darkness element slowly into Jino''s body as gently as he could.


    Jino could see a darkness moving from Malik''s girly hand into his own from under their skin. He was scared but he didn''t dare move.


    As the darkness element moved into his body the black haired man closed his eyes in concentration as he quietly watched what was happening in the kid''s body with his own mana.


    The darkness element was in a strange state in between liquid and gas and when it made its way to the center of Jino''s body it started to slowly spread out. It was only when his body became full and started to reject the darkness element did he stop.


    On the outside Jino and the village head were frozen in fear. Jino had black tendril like things moving around inside his skin all over his body even behind his eyes it was extremely terrifying but they didn''t dare make a peep. If he wanted to kill them all there was no need to go through all this trouble so they could only trust him. Also Jino didn''t seem to be in pain at all so it should be okay right?


    The elements could be converted passively into mana by their bodies but how much it could do at once showed how talented you are with said element. Inside Jino''s body he found that the amount of darkness element was only enough to fill a tenth of his body.


    But of course darkness wasn''t the only element Malik had so after waiting around 5 min for the darkness element to dissipate from Jino''s body he started to inject the element of gravity as well however a few minutes later he looked surprised at the even smaller amount of element sitting in the kids body. ''How can someone be so untalented??!"


    There was one last thing he could try though. Using his finger he poked the little sand crab asleep on the side of the table gently until she opened her eyes and looked at him in confusion. Using his mana he told her to try checking the boy''s talent with her earth element.


    Nodding her head the little crab scuttled to his side and put up her claw towards him. Jino only looked confused at the little sand crab not knowing what she wanted. The little crab stomped on the table in anger and pointed her small claw towards his hand. It was only then that he understood and put his hand opened next to the table where she put her small claw on his hand.


    Doing the same thing Malik did she inserted the earth element into him though she wasn''t as gentle making jino feel a bit of pain but it was nothing he couldn''t handle. A minute later she took back her little claw, turned her head to him and shook it slightly before going back to her place and plopping down on the table going back to sleep.


    Jino could already tell there probably wasn''t going to be good news but he still quietly waited for the young divine to speak.


    "I''m sorry but you don''t have any talent with the elements we have so it isn''t possible to make you a Chosen, it will simply be a waste of time." He said giving it to him straight, there was no point to coddle him. Also he was a divine being, Why should he coddle the kid? That would affect his image!


    Jino looked as if his whole world crashed as he looked down at his feet and clenching his fists tightly. It looked like he was going to cry. Seeing this the village head wanted to console him but just as he opened his mouth to say something the kid looked up and spoke out.


    "I''m willing to work harder than everyone else! Please! If I''m half as talented I''ll work twice as hard! If I''m a quarter as talented I''ll work 4 times as hard please just give me a chance!" He said desperately looking deep into the purple eyes of the powerful divine sitting at the end of the table. The old man wanted to say something but he decided to hold back and just sighed quietly.


    Honestly he already knew why the kid was so desperate for strength when he had read his mind. His mother had been killed by beasts before and this kid swore he was going to work hard to never let something like this happen again, and he had indeed been working extremely hard you could see by the amount of mana he had in his body. The kid was already a peak mortal about to break into a first level warrior at his age which was already very surprising since the resources in this village were extremely limited.


    He truly felt bad for him but he has limited spots for chosen wouldn''t it be a waste to use it on someone so untalented ? Even if he became stronger the amount of Element he could even hold in his body at once would be a fraction as anyone else. The maximum amount of element a person can hold is multiplied by three after each breakthrough which means not only would he have slower breakthroughs but the difference between the amount of element he could hold in his body to someone more talented would only grow bigger. And that''s not counting the true geniuses that did not follow common sense!


    He did feel really bad for him though and the kid had this main character look in his eyes of ''I won''t give up!'' that made it hard for him to say no, fortunately he knew exactly what he should do.


    "Fine I''ll give you a chance, since you aren''t talented in any of the elements you have to at least be a talented warrior or else there is no point. I will be creating the Chosen in one month from now. If you can break through to second level Warrior by then I''ll make you one of my chosen." He said with a slight smile on his face.


    Hearing that the old man on the back sighed again and shook his head quietly. Even Jino seemed to realize how hard it was to do something like that, his father was over 30 years old and even while constantly hunting and training he has only been able to reach mid second level warrior.


    But how can he just give up? "Second level warrior? No problem! Just make sure to keep my spot open! Young master, grandfather, I''ll go train now excuse me!" He said with determination before bowing and quickly running out of the building.


    The old man looked at the kid''s back before letting out a big sigh.


    "Thank you for not denying him outright. At least he will still have something to work towards." The old man spoke with helplessness in his voice.


    Hearing the old man, Malik nodded his head before turning his head back down to continue working on the scroll once again.


    An hour later people started to showing up for the meeting. It was finally time to decide on the village''s future!

 28 Are we going to be ok?

    Once the last of the village leaders sat down it was finally time to start the meeting. The old village head stood up and started introducing everyone.


    "Ahem ahem. Young master as you know I''m the village head and that is my son Val who should be taking my position after me. That is Ralfe the village artificer and lastly that is old man Alder, he''s a traveler that knows many things and luckily for us he decided to settle down in the village. He takes both the role of the village doctor and teacher." After introducing everyone he sat back down on his chair.


    Once all the introduction was out of the way it was finally time to get down to business.


    "What does this village produce and how much?" Malik asked while looking at the village head.


    "Our village sits in very rich fertile land and there is plenty of food from both farming and gathering to the point where it''s basically impossible to go hungry and we also have plenty of water making us completely self sufficient. Unfortunately due to the lack of mana in the area all the crops are all just normal food which does nothing to help with strengthening our people. Because of it we have to go out hunting a certain distance away if we want to find tier one beast and rarely even a tier 2. Other than food though there is nothing else we produce." The old man that had started talking happily ended with a sigh which everyone followed along with.


    Malik nodded his head as he listened. He had noticed the low amount of mana in the air when he had first come out to land but he thought it might have been something normal for humans and that dense mana was just something found deep in the sea, but it looks like he was wrong.


    "What about people? How many are there in the village right now?"


    "We should have a bit over a thousand two hundred since we lost 342 people during the attack and of the people we have there should be around 200 elders, 400 children and the rest are adults." The old head quickly answered.


    Honestly he was surprised hearing such a detailed answer, he was expecting something much more vague but it looked like they were organized at least to a certain extent.


    "What about mines? Have you found any close by?"


    Such a huge mountain full of resources just sitting there completely ownerless yet it was impossible to mine due to those weak little creatures.


    He made a note to check that place out later with Mina when she was done with her training. It shouldn''t be too hard to remove those creatures from there.


    "What about the village''s strength? How many warriors do you guys have?"


    This time it was the village head that answered. "Val here is the strongest person in the village as a mid second level warrior. Second would be Ralfe as a peak first level warrior with his fireball inscribed wand. Other than them we have only 30 other first level warriors left after the beasts attack."


    ''Hmmm¡­Though this village doesn''t have many people it''s not so bad since it will allow me to implement changes much quicker but we also need to find a way to get more resources so we can train new Warriors and raise their levels and that''s not counting the future Chosen as well, their resources are much rarer and expensive. This world is dangerous and unless I completely block this village from the outside world and take care of the people like big babies for the rest of their lives this would never work out. I need to find a way for them to grow strong enough to stand on their own.''


    Seeing as the young divine was quietly thinking to himself for over a minute now everyone turned their heads to Ralfe and signaled with their heads for him to do something.


    Honestly they weren''t expecting much from Malik. It''s not that they looked down on him or anything after all he was a Divine! But how can a divine creature that lived in the bottom of the ocean for who knows how long think up for solutions to grow a human community? It''s not a coincidence that over 99% of Divines tend to leave basically all of the decisions concerning this to the humans themselves.


    Clearing his throat Ralfe spoke up pulling the divine out of his thoughts. "Young master forgive me for speaking but may I give a suggestion?"


    Malik nodded to him, giving him permission to speak.


    "I suggest for young master and young miss create and train your first Chosen as quickly as possible and after giving them some training to send them to take missions in breeze city. There you can get missions from multiple other cities close by and by completing them you can get the rewards stated on the missions which could be basically anything from armor and weapons to cultivation resources." Ralfe said as everyone nodded in agreement.


    "That is indeed a good idea, however I will only be creating Chosen a few weeks later so lets put that away for now. I actually have a few good ideas that I came up with last night that we could start to produce which will not only strengthen the village but it could even become our brand in the future!" He said as he pulled up the scroll he had been working on since yesterday.


    As the village leaders looked at the scroll that was almost completely filled with strange symbols some couldn''t help but start to be a little hopeful. ''Maybe the creatures from the sea have something useful down there we don''t know about? If only one of those things were to work then wouldn''t our life drastically change?'' Seeing the excited old people he couldn''t help but let out a small smile.


    Turning the scroll back to himself Malik cleared his throat and started to read it out loud. "The first thing is black powder! It''s an incredibly explosive powder that can be used either as weapons or in mining! Some people even use it to light up the sky as entertainment and those aren''t .... Next is Cement! It''s a mixture of different things which end up becoming a liquid that turns into stone when dry its inc... There is also Rubber!.... Hot Air Balloons!.... Alloys!.... Crop rotations!.... ¡­." While he was reading out all of the things in the scroll the young divine didn''t notice that everyone was looking at him with a strange face. He spoke for almost 10 min before he said everything and was completely satisfied. Honestly he only knew the basic idea of all these things which he looked it up due to curiosity after hearing about it in every novel he read but he was sure that with enough experimenting he could get it down perfectly. When he turned back towards the village leaders he saw them looking at him with a strange face that made him feel a bit awkward. He already didn''t feel right acting as if these inventions came from him now with their looks on him it made him even more uncomfortable.


    "Why are all of you looking at me like that?" He said with a frown.


    The village leaders looked at each other for a few seconds before the old man Alder decided to speak up.


    While giving a wry smile he started to speak up "Young Master ¡­ All these things already exist. For example the crop rotation was created by Nissa the Harvest Fawn. She is one of the largest exporters of food in the continent. The same with the other ideas¡­. "


    The young divine was stunned still as he heard that. ''Isn''t this a medieval fantasy world? How is it these things already exist? Am I the reincarnator or are they?!''


    It was then that the old man spoke up once more. "Y-Young master, could it be you know the secret behind all these things? Even though they all exist they are all top secret of the cities that created them and are solely used by them as well so if¡­."


    As the black haired young man sitting at the end of the table heard this he couldn''t help but let out a loud laugh which startled all the village leaders.


    ''I see now! They aren''t reincarnators like me! Because of the rules of this world it kick started everyone to scramble in creating new things by experimentation. Unfortunately their selfish actions of keeping all the secrets to themselves have held back the world from progressing! Now what would happen if I were to put all these ideas together in one place? Wouldn''t that? ¡­''


    "Muahahahaha!" Not being able to help himself he once again let out a loud laugh which sounded a bit more diabolical than the first one.


    The village leaders couldn''t help but feel a chill down their backs as they looked at each other with the same question in their minds. ''Are we going to be ok?''

 29 There should be a balance to life.

    The most important thing of course was putting up a school for the children, after all what''s more important as a foundation for humanity then education? He put old man Alder in charge of it as the principle as he was already teaching some of the younger kids reading, writing and about the beasts and plants they will possibly encounter outside he should be pretty experienced. He decided to add a bit more to the kids schedule though. From now on the school would also be teaching basic Math, geography, science, warrior training, and lastly artificer class. Warrior class would be led by Val while Ralfe would be doing the artificer class as the only one in the village.


    He could see that fatty Ralfe wasn''t very happy having to teach village kids his craft but who cares what he thinks hahahah.


    Malik also had them start building a public bathroom for everyone after all health was incredibly important in a medieval world like this, especially since he was no doctor in his last life so he wouldn''t be able to help at all when it came to that other than basic first aid.


    Lastly he set up a research group with old man Alder and Ralfe as leaders to experiment and try their best to bring his ideas to reality. They would be working by themselves at first when they were not teaching at school and when they found good seedlings there they could take them as assistants.


    "Ok that''s pretty much it. If you have any questions later just come to me and I''ll try to answer as well as I can. As for you Ralfe, stay behind for a bit"


    It was already way past lunch time now and he could hear some of their stomachs growling so he decided to end it there for the day. Ralfe should be fine though, with that body he could probably survive a month without eating no problem.


    Everyone quickly got up and left after bowing to the young divine. Ralfe looked at them leaving for lunch with an envious gaze.


    "Ok Mr. Ralfe, let''s talk about your profession. Give me a quick summary of what you make and what you need to make, and also how do the artifacts you create work." The young handsome man said as he turned his violet eyes towards him.


    Turning back his gaze from the people leaving Ralfe sighed to himself before he started to explain


    "Though I am an artificer I''m not a Chosen yet so I can''t create any elemental artifacts like weapons, armors, or tools. I can however make none elemental ones which can be used by anyone that has control over their mana which are first level warriors and over." He calmly explained.


    Ralfe then noticed that the young divine took a look at the red fire wand he had by his side in confusion.


    Understanding his confusion, Ralfe started to speak once again.


    "Hmm, I see. So what are the limitations of the artifacts?" The young man asked curiously.


    Taking out his wand the fatty started to patiently explain. "You can think of the artifacts as basically a mold of what the Artificer can do. As my friend was already a Chosen and had the fire element he could imbue this wand with an ability of his choice which in this case he chose fireball. So when I put in the minimum amount of mana necessary into the wand it will cast a fireball automatically in the direction I choose."


    Ralfe then pointed at the large red crystal at the wands tip as he continued. "This beast core here is used as a medium to convert my mana into the appropriate element so I''m able to cast the fireball, though how efficient the conversion is depends on your affinity with the element. A Chosen with the fire element wouldn''t need the core and could cast fireball with only the wand itself which is useful for a lower level Chosen to use a higher level ability. Artifacts with beast cores however need to be bound to one person first to be used and wont work for anyone else unless you switch the core to another which would need to be done by an artificer."


    "So could a Divine''s flying ability be put into an artifact and people can use it to fly?"


    "Well theoretically yes if you had a Divine that is an artificer and he used a beast core from a Divine as well, but the amount of mana necessary to cast it would be so high it would basically be unusable other than by divines themselves" Ralfe answered.


    "I see, well what artifacts can you make?" The young man asked.


    "Well since elemental artifacts are fully dependent on being a Chosen I can''t make those yet. I''m also only a first level warrior which means all I can do with my mana is strengthen strengthen my body with it. However since this is something all first level warriors can do and only first level warriors and over can use artifacts, making one that can do this is completely useless." Ralfe answered feeling a bit embarrassed.


    "So you haven''t actually created an artifact before?" Malik asked, surprised.


    "I haven''t but I have the knowledge! I studied for years! I have also worked with other artificers in making theirs! If I had an element I would be able to easily make one!" The fatty answered loudly as his pale skin gained a reddish pink tint from embarrassment.


    "Hmm ¡­ come here" Malik said as he held up his hand.


    Ralfe realized what he was going to do and became excited as he quickly jumped off his chair and went to his chair before putting his hand onto the young man''s hand.


    ''Ugh his hand is all sweaty. All he did was sit the whole morning. Why did he sweat so much?'' holding back his disgust he started to check for the fatty''s talents.


    As he slowly put the darkness element into his body they both patiently waited for the result. For a few seconds both Ralfe and him were standing quietly next to each other holding hands quietly waiting.


    This scene reminded him of a scene in a movie he saw once where the husband and wife were anxiously waiting excitedly for the pregnancy test, he couldn''t help but take a quick look at Ralfe''s large stomach.


    Shaking his head side to side he instantly removed the disgusting thoughts from his head before going back to concentrating on what he was doing.


    As the fatties body started to reject the darkness, only a small amount was left sitting there the size of a tennis ball.


    ''He''s even worse than The kid!'' Letting out a large sigh in disappointment he waited for the darkness element in his body to dissolve so he could try out the gravity element.


    ''This is a village at the corner of the continent so maybe I should lower my expectations a bit." He thought to himself a bit disappointed.


    Once all the darkness element was gone he started to put in the gravity element slowly into the fatties large body, he made sure to concentrate so his head wouldn''t have time to think up any more weird ideas.


    one minute passed, then two minutes passed, then three ¡­ ¡­.He finally realized there was something strange!


    ''Wait shouldn''t it be full by now? Could it be because of his large body?'' The young man though as he hid the surprised look on his face.


    As he looked inside his body he noticed that the fatties large body was almost completely full! It only started to reject the element when it reached around 90-92%! This fatty was a genius with the gravity element!


    Malik was extremely excited! He found one of his Chosen! And it was an artificer to boot!


    Of course on the outside he didn''t show his excitement at all. ''This fatty was living such a good life I can''t have him being happy all the time, there should be a balance to life after all hehehe''


    "Ahem, well your talent isn''t too bad but I wont know if it''s the best in the village, you can go back home now to eat. I''ll call you if I need anything."


    Hearing that his talent wasn''t too bad made Ralfe happy but knowing there were still over one thousand village people to be tested brought his happiness back down again. He knew he had good affinity for the fire element but darkness and gravity? The chances that he is higher than all the villagers was too low. He couldn''t help but let out a sigh.


    "Sighs, I see, thank you young master for testing me." The fatty said before bowing his head and leaving.


    Seeing the disappointed fatty waddling out of the building Malik couldn''t help but let out a bright smile. "Don''t blame me alright? It would be too unfair to humanity if you were having such a good life all the time. Hehe, that''s one Chosen found now I only have 11 more to go!"


    Now that the meeting was over the black haired young man stretched his body a bit before getting up off the chair and leaving the building, not forgetting to put the little crab on his shoulder of course.


    As he reached the outside he noticed that the sun was already going down in the horizon, Though the village was basically already at night time for a few hours now due to the shadow his large body was casting.


    He wanted to get help from his main body to check for everyone''s talent in the village as he could probably do it over one night however it was too busy. It had just started to feel the thoughts that the living beings had towards him and was in the process of understanding how to refine it into a kind of belief energy as Edyta had taught him. So he would have to do it slowly by his own clone''s self.


    Surprisingly though he found that most of the emotions people had towards him was fear for some reason. He could understand the ones that were coming from the ocean as it used to be his hunting ground, also he could understand breeze city a bit as he had a small exchange with Edyta but even his village as well! Though it was mixed with other emotions like curiosity, admiration, and gratitude what he found strange was that most of the fear came to him at night. They shouldn''t even be able to see him in the dark sky so why were they so afraid?


    Letting out a sigh Malik decided he would try and fix his image in the future.


    ''I should start finding my Chosen soon. After all, my clone should be getting back with the tree in around a month and I want to create the chosen and the totem at the same time. It''s a bit late already though so I''ll speak with little gold tomorrow and start then" He thought quietly to himself as he rubbed the head of the little crab that was on his shoulder who tried swatting his finger away with its little claws in annoyance.


    "Hahahaha" Letting out a laugh at the little crab the young man headed back to his small mansion slowly through the darkness.