Second Genesis

Grey was already half-way to the outpost when he saw the beam of gold in the distance. He spun around, almost thinking he was getting attacked for a second. Even as he skidded to a stop, facing away from the direction he was going, he was already summoning his daggers.

But there was no attack coming. Just a big ’fuck-off’ flash bang that made him squint.

’What the hell...’

The wall of Holy energy hit him moments later and he couldn’t help but frown.

This fluctuation of energy was familiar. He had sensed it before. Sure, it was Holy energy, but it had a slight tinge that was different from it. Not all Holy energy was the same.

’The Bishop. He left seclusion? Well fuck me sideways.’

Grey immediately turned around and broke out into another sprint. Whatever was happening in the city right now, his best option was probably not to be there right now. He could figure out the rest later.

If the Bishop really was waking up, he gained nothing by being anywhere near by.

...

It didn’t take long before Grey saw the outpost in the distance. He cut through ruins he had already cleared so he didn’t have to fight a single battle. Plus, with Wind Glider, he practically felt like he weighed little more than a feather.

Before, it had taken him many hours to cover the distance. This time, he shaved it to a little more than just two or so.

’Let’s hope those fuckers are going to let me breathe a bit.’

He appeared before the outpost in a flash and pressed a hand to the doors. There was a whirring change and he was suddenly sucked right in.

A wide grin spread across Grey’s face as he stumbled into a familiar bar.

"Yo, barkeep, you seem to be looking particularly handsome today."

Ji looked up and raised an eyebrow. A fly chose that very moment to land on his cheek. A familiar cracking whip echo flashed through the air and it vanished.

Grey made a weird face. "Your charisma needs some work."

Barkeep Ji laughed. "What have you come here for today, Sir Temolt?"

"I have a shit ton of everything to sell."

"Oh?" Ji cleared the counter and wiped it down. "Please."

His webbed hands made a gesture and Grey grinned.

"There’s no cap on how many credits you have, right?"

Barkeep Ji raised an eyebrow. "So long as the outpost deems your items worthy of purchase, there is a price for them."

"Great."

Grey began to dump everything in his inventory onto the counter until it piled up so high he couldn’t see Barkeep Ji’s face anymore.

A pair of webbed hands squeezed through the pile and split it in two.

"This is quite the haul." Barkeep Ji said calmly. "If you wanted credits, they would be worth into the billions. About seven."

Grey’s eye twitched. He hadn’t even brought out the blueprints yet.

He had burnt them during one loop, but obviously in the most recent of them the blueprints had survived.

Grey already had the blueprints downloaded into his Cyber Space, so he didn’t need the physical copies anymore. All they were doing was taking up space in his inventory.

It had to be remembered that Grey had to pay units of energy to open up every space in his inventory. That meant every item he had occupying a space was one less than he would have.

He had to use quite a bit of energy to store what he had, but since they were mostly raw materials instead of individual treasures, the inventory spaces were more accommodating and he could pile several materials into a single space.

This depended on the quality of the space, but despite everything that was here, Grey had been able to store them in about 10 spaces upgraded to the Established Class level despite the fact there were many Vanguard Class items here.

The blueprints themselves all fit into a single space of the Vector Class. It was the one Vector Class space Grey had. He couldn’t stomach building any more even though he knew it would probably pay off in the future. After all, it alone cost a ridiculous 100 energy units.

He had 10 Established Class spaces, one Vector Class, and 20 Proving Class.

This was all to say that Grey was planning on dumping everything he had to clear up his inventory space, hoping that he would clear up space for other things.

He had dreams of filling all his spaces with useful items he could pull out on a whim in battle.

Well, that he could pull out when he was either sure the Church wouldn’t have his head or he was desperate enough that it didn’t matter.

But as he was lost in those dreams, he didn’t expect to suddenly be stun-locked.

’Damn, I’m rich.’

This went to show how expensive items at the Vanguard Class probably were, though. If just their raw materials got this much, what about an actual treasure of the Vanguard Class?

Grey shook his head. "But?"

He suddenly realized that there was an undertone of something else in Barkeep Ji’s tone, which was odd considering the barkeep was usually very delicate about what information he gave.

If he was going to give a hint for free, Grey would certainly listen.

"This amount of money will not do you any good."

Grey’s lip twitched. "Don’t tell me this is going to become one of those money doesn’t make you happy speeches, is it? It’s always rich people saying that. If I’m going to cry, I don’t want my leaky roof to be crying too, alright?"

Barkeep Ji chuckled. "I only mean that even if you bought every item available that would be useful to a member of the Proving Class like yourself, you might hit 100 million or so. That would be about two or three percent of what you’d get for selling all of this.

"The rest of that money would just be sitting in your credit bank, doing nothing for you."

"Then let it sit. I’m not investing in your solar panels."

Barkeep Ji gave Grey a confused glance, but Grey didn’t back down.

"Some of these materials are exceptionally difficult to get—."

"Are they more difficult to get than a legendary item? Because I’d like every one you have, please."

Barkeep Ji sighed. "We do not sell any treasures beyond Epic. If you want something beyond, you will need to either luck into it yourself, or prepare for an auction."

Grey threw his hands up in exasperation. "Sounds like another reason I need a ton of money, then."

The barkeep sighed again.

"Look, frog man. If you want to convince me not to become a billionaire, I’m going to need you to be more straightforward than whatever this is. Look me in the eye and tell me what you want from me.

"Why are you talking to me about materials that are hard to get when they’ll just end up sitting in my inventory just like the money?"

"There are two reasons." Barkeep Ji said. "After the Vector Class, credits as you know them become useless. The prices I’m giving you are estimated, not what these items are actually worth.

"And second, since when do the strong worry about short term gains?"

A crack of a whip echoed and Grey was already ducking before his mind registered that he was being attacked in a fucking safe room.