“URGH?!”

The cold, biting winds soothed his clay skin, yet his insides seared as though he swallowed a ball of red-hot iron.

‘GET OUT!’ Eve screamed—he tried to. His mouth gaped, but no sound escaped his throat. Clutching his head, his soul tried calming his nerves to no avail.

‘GOD!’ Eve screamed, gritting his teeth and glaring at the skies. ‘GODS!!!’

Anger stewed within him, primal rage washing over his senses like a flood washing over a town, overturning everything. The invasive energy, his mind, his sanity—all of them be damned!

“RAHHH!!!” His fists slammed on the ground, his breath spewing out hot gales as the violent torrent of energy ruptured out of his body.

“Ha… ha…”

His limbs were shaking, and his mind felt like it was tearing apart, yet he didn't fall. Instead, he slowly stood up, looking around while gasping for air. It was then that he noticed the forty thousand clay army gathered around him.

“You're all here,” he wheezed out. Standing in place while collecting his scattered mind, he closed his eyes in thought.

‘Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind… Five Elemental Mana assaulted my body as soon as I entered,’ Eve opened his eyes, looking down at his body. Thankfully, he didn't gain any strange features out of the blue. Seeing the sword he dropped on the ground, he bent to pick it up.

‘That’s at least five gods.’

Mana was the product of Divinity, and only gods can wield Divinity.

‘Low-grade world, what a joke,’ Eve snorted. Looking around once more, he saw a wall of trees in front and the vast plain behind them.

“Let's go, let's hide for now,” he said and marched with his men. While walking, he repeatedly clenched his fists.

‘Thankfully, I forced the mana out before it could form a mana system inside me,’ he thought, but the frown on his face remained. ‘The mana erosion didn't happen… but not all of it was driven out.’

There was a sense of wetness in his chest, his legs felt unnaturally hot, half of his head felt heavy and stiff, his ears felt sensitive, and his fists felt numb.

‘Damned mana,’ even as a human, he never used mana due to its link to gods.

Now, he knew a way to wield magic without the use of mana. ‘That energy I felt when merging with clay soldiers back then,’ Eve hummed at the memory. That energy felt natural to him, unlike raw energy or the mana inside him right now.

Naming it “Primal Energy,” he tried various ways to harness it but failed a hundred times out of a hundred.

‘That’s a matter for later,’ Eve sighed and gazed around the forest.

The forest was only a few steps behind them, and entering it revealed hundreds of insects and dozens of small animals. There were frogs, snakes, lizards, and a myriad of hunting insects surrounding them, but Eve paid them no mind.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Even though each clay solder was small, barely half a finger tall, each of them could best a small snake with ease. At the end of the day, no matter size didn't matter for Eve's clay soldiers… most of the time.

A few minutes into the forest they found a burrow beneath a tree. ‘It is a rabbit’s burrow?’

Inside was a small space, but it as big enough for the army of clay men, though they were a bit cramped.

“Expand the burrow carefully, and reinforce everything,” Eve ordered with a wave of a hand. ‘Let’s call it ‘New Chamber,’’ he thought.

The day quietly passed and by nightfall, the owner went back home. Seeing the “giant” rabbit, the clay drove it away, making it bleed profusely in the process.

‘Can clay soldiers eat meat?’ Eve thought, seeing the blood on the ground. ‘I should find out,’ he squinted in the distance, his gaze following the trail of blood that went deep into the dark forest.

‘But not now.’

Turning around, he saw that most of the clay soldiers were resting after the brief battle. ‘Tomorrow, we'll head out.’

The day dawned swiftly as the clay soldiers kept themselves busy. On the other hand, Eve awoke from his meditation.

‘That felt longer than usual…’ Eve blinked. ‘Well, it should be. A day should be twenty-four hours in this world.’

During the night, he tried slowly extracting the mana in his body. To combat mystical energies like mana, another mystical energy needed to be used. Unfortunately for him, he only had his unadulterated mental power, and it was doing little to no progress.

‘Slow progress is still progress,’ Eve shrugged.

“Let's go,” he said, walking out of the burrow. Behind him was a hundred clay soldiers, including the winner from the last tournament. After thinking, he named the experimental clay soldier as “Lucky.”

After leaving New Chamber, Eve led his soldiers to scout the forest. He expected the process to be tedious, something that might take a month or perhaps a year, but only two weeks in, he managed to explore the entire forest. He even made a map using animal skin and carefully carving out the forest.

‘The forest is quite small, just like the forest we destroyed back in Evangeline,’ Eve thought, reading the map over and over again. He already memorized the entire thing, but reading a map was easier than visualizing it.

‘There’s nothing special about it,’ Eve sighed. “Let's head back.”

Behind him, the clay soldiers were all armed with big twigs that were sharpened. Not only that, they were bigger than before. Even Eve grew in size.

‘There’s a lot to unpack,’ Eve smirked, glancing at the bags each clay soldier was carrying. ‘And lots of meat to eat.’

He found his answer on their first day of exploration—clay men can eat meat, and somehow it increases their size. Sadly, they hit a barrier a long time ago, and they only grew to twice their original height. Eve was now as tall as an outstretched hand, while the clay soldiers were half as tall as him.

With the increased size, the journey back to New Chamber was swift, and even the five-foot-long snake they encountered along the way posed no trouble. After stuffing its skin and flesh in a bag, they continued rushing back as if nothing happened.

Two days went by in silence, and Eve reached New Chamber in the afternoon of the third day.

“What happened here…” Eve slowed his steps, looking at New Chamber with wide eyes.

+

Among the bustling streets was a beauty with long, silver white hair that reached up to her waist, even though she tied it into a high ponytail. Her red eyes, though round and soft, pierced the air as she moved swiftly, carrying a steady pace. Civilians around her didn't dare cast lustful glances at her supple, fair skin. Instead, they showered her with respect and moved out of her way while giving polite smiles.

Yeula nodded to those who greeted her, and stopped whenever there was someone in front of her. She even tried helping others who needed it.

As time passed by, she stopped in front of a tall, black tower that looked as though it was made by stacking stones. Of course, she knew that it was simply the aesthetic design, and the tower was as secure as it could get.

After all, the tower in front of her was the Grand Tower of the Sapphire Guild, the guild that defeated two Demon Lords during its prime.

Even now, when their guildmaster left for the “Heaven World,” the Sapphire Guild remains one of the strongest guilds in the “Mortal World.”

Under her leadership as the Vice Guildmaster, the guild remained standing despite numerous trials and tribulations.

Casting a long gaze at the tall tower, she couldn't help but let out a sigh. The tower was built three years ago, four years after he destruction of their homeworld, Earth.

“Reminiscing the past again, Ela?” A voice cut her off from her thoughts. Shaking her head, he entered the tower.

“Miguel, it's rare for you to be early,” she said to her partner, though they rarely met.

“I cleared the entrance to the Spider Queen's dungeon, you should be able to send newbies there now,” Miguel said, walking next to Yeula. He had short black hair and deep blue eyes, and his skin was darker than tan. Standing next to each other, they looked like yin and yang.

“Oh, thanks,” Yeula nodded, causing Miguel to laugh.

“So cold,” he said, “thanks is all I get, ice queen?” He smirked, nudging the girl who was taller than him by an inch, even though he was 6”2.

“Tsk,” ignoring him, Yeula walked faster, reached the spiraling stairs when all of a sudden, her arm started to sting.

“Ah!” Hissing in pain, she held her arm. On the surface of her fair skin was a tattoo of a black rhombus, but now it was glowing blue.

“Ah,” Miguel let out a sigh from behind her as well, holding his arm like her. Unlime her, his tattoo was shaped in an “X.”

“Are you okay, Yeula?” He asked, looking at the love of his life. However, inside both of their heads was a torrent of information, something that never happened during peace.

“Miguel,” Yeula frowned, waving her arm to relieve the pain. “Was there an anomaly in the dungeons? How come a new Demon Lord was suddenly born?”

Miguel shook his head. “Sorry Ela, this man is useless.”

“Truly useless,” she clicked her tongue, rubbing her furrowed brows when she felt a pair of thick arms wrapping around her waist.

“Don't worry, it's just a Demon Lord, not a Demon God. Demon God Gyrous was sealed by Master Felix, remember?” Miguel said in a calm, soothing voice. What replied to him was an elbow to the stomach. It didn't hurt, not at all, but he voluntarily buckled and back away.

“You dumbass, that's why it's strange, idiot.”

Having been cursed twice, Miguel could only chuckle while scratching the back of his ears.