Eve gritted his teeth, looking at his wrist. His left hand was gone, it was down there on the ground, now nothing but a puddle of clay.

‘This damned clay body,’ he hissed. ‘What am I doing wrong?’

He sighed, going toward the puddle of clay and rousing his mental energy. As the energy entered the clay, the clay started crawling toward his wrist, forming a new hand in the process.

‘Ah, I remember now,’ Eve's frown deepened. ‘During the tournament with Felix, I did the same thing, using Primal Energy to double my body strength.’

Pondering for a moment, he decided to call two clay soldiers—one of them was Lucky.

‘Do I need to absorb primal energy through another clay soldier?’ As he waited, he wrapped his mental energy around the primal energy, trying to increase his control over the latter.

‘Or maybe, I'm missing something?’ Eve looked at the forest behind him. It took an hour, but Lucky finally arrived, carrying another clay soldier on his back like a sack of potatoes.

‘Oh? It took me fifty minutes to get here,’ Eve smiled. ‘He grew up fast, I expected him to take an hour and a half.’

As for ordinary clay soldiers? They'd take two hours, he guessed.

‘I should evaluate their strengths better,’ Eve pushed it at the back of his mind for now. As Lucky knelt down in front of him, he waved his hand.

“Rise. You, come here,” he pointed at the other clay soldier. As the clay soldiers moved, Eve raised his hand, and the clay soldier placed its head on his open palm.

“Don't reject my energy,” Eve mumbled and closed his eyes. As soon as he did so, forgotten memories emerged from the back of his mind.

‘That’s right, I used the ‘cups method’ back then,’ Eve chuckled. ‘If I can hold ten drops of water, this clay soldier can hold five. But right now it's empy.’

‘The water in my cup is my primal energy, then what's my mental energy? A spoon?’ Eve scoffed, but as he thought of it, a spoon appeared in his imagination. ‘I’m actually using a spoon…’

Of course, he would still be focusing on directing his mental energy to grab on the primal energy scattered around his body.

‘But what if, I gather all the primal energy in one place and contain it with mental energy?’ Eve frowned in focus. ‘That way, the cup itself will be the spoon—no, the mental energy, and I can discard the extra spoon.’

He took a deep breath, ‘Alright.’

The sun sunk, and the moon rose with all it's glory. Before it could reach its peak, Eve opened his eyes. Seeing the clay soldier still bowing with its head rested on his palm, he coughed.

‘That’s embarrassing,’ he sighed, ignoring the clay soldiers and his stiff arm. Focusing on his mental energy, his imagination flared up.

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‘The spoon is gone, and my primal energy is gathered around my abdomen just like the water on the cup,’ Eve smirked. Focusing on the clay soldier's head on his palm, he guided his mental energy toward his palm, carrying with it half of his primal energy.

‘Slowly pour the water into the smaller cup,’ Eve thought and imagined it. As he did, his mental energy poked out of his palm, directly entering the clay soldier's head.

“Ho…” Eve breathed out. ‘Success.’ With a face eating grin, he withdrew his palm, opening his eyes to look at the clay soldier. To his satisfaction, the clay soldier grew in size—now being the same size as him.

“Ah,” Eve stretched his arms, trying to pop his nonexistent joints. ‘This is awesome,’ he giggled.

“You, Lucky, fight,” Eve said and watched. The clay soldiers turned back, blocking a punch that Lucky threw the moment Eve spoke.

The clay soldier stepped back, throwing a punch that Lucky dodged—Lucky sent a punch in return, which struck the clay solder straight in the abdomen. The clay soldier skidded back, before it dashed and dodged a punch from Lucky—but Lucky sent a kick to its head!

Eve frowned. “Stop.”

Instantly, the fight stopped as quickly as it began. ‘The clay soldier grew powerful, that's true. Otherwise, each of Lucky's hit would've blown a hole through it's body.’

“Tsk, experience is a dagger, after all,” Eve sighed, recalling the clay soldier to his side. Then, he hadit place its head on his palm again.

“Pour your energy into mine—no, try merging with me,” Eve hurriedly said. ‘Who knows if it'll just return my energy instead of merging.

However, Eve waited for winter to happen in a desert. The clay soldier tried, but it never managed to merge with its master.

“Just return my energy,” Eve said with a scowl. Instantly, he felt primal energy pouring into his hand, which he guided back into the pool of primal energy i his abdomen.

Opening his eyes, he saw the clay soldier revert to it's original size.

“As expected,” he shook his head. Turning to Lucky, he hesitated.

“Better not risk it,” he mumbled. He saw how Lucky dominated an enhanced clay soldier, and for his experiments, he didn't know if the latter would disappear if it miraculously merged with him.

‘Can I only merge with clay soldiers summoned through raw energy?’ He lamented at the thought.

‘There must be another way to use primal energy,’ Eve dismissed his clay soldiers, going back to meditation.

‘Can I merge primal energy into my soul?’ Eve considered the idea, but set it aside in the end. ‘No, what if I destroy my soul? It's already like dust compared to my original soul after I was reborn.’

As he was thinking, the rustling of grass entered his ears. Snapping his eyes open, he looked at the direction of the sound. Stepping down from the rock, he sneaked toward it, his hand clasped around the handle of his sword.

Entering the outskirts of the forest, he soon heard some people arguing, and finally after an hour of following the voices, his eyes greeted a group of three men.

‘Elves?’ Eve frowned. Elves were masters of natural energy. He once fought with an entire Elven civilization alone, and he couldn't remember how the battle ensued, but he barely managed to flee.

‘During that battle, I should be near my peak,’ Eve shook his head at the memory, when one of the elves raised his hand and a blue glow surrounded his palm

Eve frowned deeply. “Magic?” he mumbled, quickly silencing himself right after. Thankfully, the sensitive ears of the elves had gone deaf for some reason.

‘So much for being able to hear a droplet of water from a mile away,’ Eve scoffed. The elves still couldn't hear him. ‘Is it because of mana? Why are elves using magic—no, how are they using it in the first place?’

Eve froze. The elf didn't, and his palm touched the human who was kneeling on the ground with his arms and legs tied, as well as his mouth covered by some cloth.

The man let out a muffled scream, rousing Eve who was frozen in place. ‘Is there an Elf God? How?’ Staring at the man being tortured, he felt his mind going blank.

‘And elves are the embodiment of kindness, what is this? Are they elves? Or are they dressing up as one?’ Eve watched in silence, his fingers itching.

‘They’re defiling the image of an elf,’ Eve clicked his tongue. He can only remember three elven civilizations, one of which he destroyed and two forced him to flee. However, in his bits of memories, he knew that all elves are kind. Some might harness sinister intentions, but those were only during war. Even then, they wouldn't start a war unless absolutely necessary.

As for an elf god, there was never one until now—all gods were all human, that's why humans could use magic.

‘Since elves are using magic, an elf god is using their divinity to spread elven mana, or whatever mana an elf god can produce,’ Eve stood up, glaring at the elves.

‘Either way, it's just another reason to eradicate gods! All gods are vile, anyway,’ he scowled. Bending his knees, he prepared to jump when the human managed to push down the cloth covering his mouth.

“DIE! YOU FUCKING BASTARDS, DIE! I HOPE THE WOLVES KILL YOU, AND MAGGOTS EAT YOU ALIVE! JUST DIE!”

Eve was stunned, much less the elves. Not because of the vulgar words used, but because of the energy behind them.

‘What’s this? Why is my heart beating so fast?’ Eve frowned, looking at his shaking hands.

‘Am I… scared?’

He gritted his teeth at the mere idea of it. His blood bubbled, and soon, his mind turned dark, pure hatred swallowing his soul.

‘Fear, I don't know that word,’ Eve looked at the tortured man, feeling interested. ‘Gods, you've been useful for once,’ he snickered.

“When doubtful, just think of gods,” he cackled, jumping off of the trees and swinging his sword toward the elves.

"They'll fuel you with hate!"