Khaladrel and the other Gods believed too much in their own power, they neglected the weaker races who made up most of their army which cost them a lot.
He wasn't going to repeat that, this time, he planned to make humans as strong as possible.
However human power was very limited, even the strongest human could only match a minor God.
Which left him with one other option, technology. While human power was limited, with the right minds science can go really far.
He turned and looked at Lucy and an idea sparked in his head. He couldn't help but grin.
Then he sat inside the golden sand circle and started cultivating. While the mana absorption rate didn't increase, the mana was more filtered.
The golden sand was a pure dream divine artefact, any mana that entered within it circle would naturally take it attribute.
He continued cultivating, day broke, they opened the door but he still didn't sit up. A few hours later he was tired and hungry.
He was still not used to hunger, it was a very uncomfortable feeling. He went to take a piece of meat and roast it.
Fortunately the clickers meat had a bit of mana or it would've spoiled by now. After having his fill he went back to cultivating.
" What is he doing?" Lucy asked Viona after their morning prayer. " Cultivating." Viona answered with envy.
" Doesn't that mean he has...?" She didn't finish, Viona nodded. " Can..do you think he will let me see it, for study, maybe I can use it device our own."
Viona looked at her with disapproval, " You never ask somebody for something like that Lucy, if you're unlucky and meet one of the cruel ones, they would kill you with a single hand."
Lucy nodded understanding her warning. Khali heard their conversation and he couldn't help but be interested.
The fact that they know of awakened people meant there were awakened people in this world.
But it also sounded like the cultivation path was cut off with only a few hoarding the means to cultivate.
He opened his eyes, he was mentally drained from cultivating and decided to explore the caves.
As his divine energy increased, so did the range of his domain but it still only encompassed the main cave, barely had a diameter of 400 metres.
He also realised the statue was set as the central point or anchor of his domain but that would mean it wasn't just a statue but had his divinity.
However that should've been impossible, only he can imbue his divinity to a statue and he was certain he never did.
Not to mention, if it had his divinity he should've been able to feel it but he felt nothing from it like it was a normal statue.
Not being able to figure things immediately was frustrating. He enjoyed it at first for his own curiosity but this time, it made his head hurt.
He decided to come back to it at a later date, he sensed the mana inside him and it was way more than before.
He reckoned before long he will be a squire or initiate, or both if he truly had the talent for being a warlock.
However he couldn't see why he wouldn't have such a talent. " Where are you going?" Lucy asked him.
" To explore the caves." He replied without looking back. " Really? really? Can I come, can I come."
She didn't wait for him to agree before running behind him. Viona followed them quietly with her hand on her sword.
They went down to the river, crossed it and they started exploring the caves. These caves were dark and damp.
In one of them they found a nest of fist sized beetles, those things were small but incredibly powerful for something of their sizes.
Lucy screamed and hid behind Viona, he and Viona had to kill all the beetles to proceed.
They continued moving in deeper, the deeper they went, the harder the cave walls got and the more mana there was.
Then they came out to a large cave with a tall roof, the cave was very dark, so much so that Viona had to hold Lucy's hand since Lucy couldn't even see where she was walking.
Even the two of them had a hard time seeing in this cave. He pulled out his sword and lit it on fire.
The flames brought light to the cave and what they say shook them. The entire cave walls even on the roof was filled with holes like a nest of ants.
" Retreat." He whispered but just as they were backing away Lucy stepped on something and a crunching noise filled the caves.
She flinched, they looked down and saw bones, lot and lot of bones laying around them.
Some were from clickers but others were from other creatures that would never live with ckickers. He saw one of a clicker but the bones were thicker and looked stronger.
" Rank 1 clicker." He whispered softly. " What?" Viona asked. He looked at them with a grim face.
" We need to get out of here quickly." The two of them were confused, they couldn't recognise the rank 1 bones.
It wasn't just the clicker, there were others, their bones still had mana. If they were killed here it meant there was something here with enough power to kill a rank 1.
Or perhaps not one thing, looking at the holes on the cave, he was most certain this was home to a hive like creatures.
Suddenly they heard the sound of running footsteps through the walls. They didn't sound like human footsteps or of any mammal.
They sounded more like sharp legs of insects. He knew they had to run now or they won't be able to later.
The footsteps grew closer, they turned around and started running. " Wait wait wait." Lucy shouted letting go of Viona's hand.
She ran back. " LUCY COME BACK." Viona shouted and ran to her. Lucy grabbed a small green bone with excitement.
" This is great, I can't wait to study it." Khali was genuinely confused, she didn't have any technology to study anything, why would she risk her life for a bone that's useless to her?
As they turned to run they saw multiple red eyes glaring at them. " Eee." He heard a whimper.
He turned and saw Viona standing frozen. Then her body fell back stiffly. ' Shit.'