Second Genesis

Grey was ready for anything. Arrows, booby traps, maybe a goth ghoul he’d caption with "would" on twitter or something, no further explanation needed.

Unfortunately, no big-titty ghouls were coming. Fortunately, he also wasn’t attacked by any traps either.

Instead, he got down to a place oddly similar to Globb’s own basement, just darker.

There was a small path, and up ahead, rather than an armor, there was an orb. The orb was brass and perfectly polished. Within it, there were lines etched so deep it was hard to tell if the orb was really all one piece, or if it was just hovering in pieces.

’If this isn’t what Baron Giyoto was asking about, I’ll cut off my left nut.’ Grey thought. ’Not actually though, whatever gods are listening.’

Grey continued forward cautiously, but "nothing" continued to happen. Even when he reached forward and just plucked the orb up.

Well, something did happen. Just not anything all that dangerous.

—

[VICTORY]

—

[Calculating contribution]

—

[1. Grey Temolt - 99.99%]

[2. Delanai Hart - 00.005%]

[3. Lando Hunter - 00.003%]

...

—

Grey almost laughed when he saw the list, rolling the orb around in his palm.

Well, it was certainly fair. He had done all the work.

He killed King Cami, Bishop Calixan, Blood, and even whatever weird creature had possessed the bishop too. He had put in quite a bit of work, and all that was left was his rewards.

’I feel like I’m so close... but still not quite there.’

He had so many puzzle pieces for his Legendary Quest.

The Mark of the Gods. The relationship between the Dark Kin and the Savages. Bishop Calixan seemed pretty critical too at this point, and this place was practically the holy grail of information. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The Fog of Chaos had literally been suppressed here until it was released. Whoever made up the army trapped in the lake, or whatever this orb was... it was probably the missing link that tied everything together.

That and Blood.

Bishop Calixan had implied that the reason Blood could take the Mark of the Gods was because he was a half blood—half vampire, half goblin. Why that made him a fucking giant, Grey had no idea.

’Well, the vampire pimp was fucking massive. Maybe that’s it.’

But Blood still felt larger than even Valdris had been, which was odd considering his other parent should have been a tiny goblin.

Were goblins still tiny before they became of the Savage Races? What did goblins even have to do with Paladins in the first place? No matter how Grey looked at it, he couldn’t square it. But maybe that was the entire point.

The Races had fallen to the point all anyone could think of them was the worst.

’Alright, if I’m not completing my Legendary Quest here, give me my rewards already.’

As though hearing Grey’s thoughts, the system stopped "calculating" and began to eject its rewards.

One Loot Box appeared before Grey, a second appeared, then a third, then a fourth. It just kept going, and going.

Until Grey thought he was going to be crushed in this tiny little space.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!"

He knew the system was bullshit and these Genesis Games were practically designed to kill him from the ground up, but he wouldn’t die to his fucking rewards, would he?

Just when Grey really thought he was about to die the most ridiculous death ever, the Loot Boxes began to fuse, popping together like magnets at first. Then their jigsaw animations played out and the pieces got mixed together before fusing as one.

This happened again and again, and then again until from dozens of boxes there were only three that remained. They radiated a silver blue of Legendary, a color Grey recalled all too well.

But then even those three snapped together into one, radiating a gorgeous golden yellow.

’Mythical?’ Grey wondered, his eyes narrowing. ’This better not be the actual item that old bastard wants. I’m not giving it to him if it comes down to it. Fuck him.’

Grey pressed a hand forward and the box clicked.

He had been expecting the same animation to run, but instead he was nearly blinded by the fucking sun. Music even started playing at the same time.

’Can we relax, please? Jeez.’

The light was so bright that Grey knew it would be a while before he could actually see the item. Feeling eager, he pulled up the description instead through his status screen.

—

Name: Mark of the Buddha

Rarity: N/A (BLESSED) (LIMITED)

Accepted Type: Resonant

Rejected Type: Linear, Branching, Recursive

Description: The Mark of the Gods have caused countless wars, what too few know is that what the mortals fight for beneath the skies are but scraps of fallen ruins, the result of the War of the Gods themselves. The pacifism of the Buddha rose from this truth, a realization of how small and insignificant life can be and that its preservation was a matter of effort and intent, not simply acceptance.

Their efforts were both blessed and cursed—blessed by Her Holiness in recognition of their efforts, and cursed by their duty. Once passive and seekers of peace, they were forced onto the battlefield as the harbingers of irony in the very peace they sought.

Abilities: Etch this onto yourself for the Buddha Frame.

—

There was no other description of the abilities of the item. It somewhat left Grey a bit speechless.

A Buddha Frame? Was that different from his Paladin Frame? It sounded like another Holy Frame, to be honest, so he wasn’t sure if it would clash with what he had or not.

’Maybe Buddha is to Paladin what Priest is to Holy Knight?’

Grey was completely talking out of his ass, he had no idea, but it sounded nice.

Even so, he didn’t need two Holy Frames. Should he sell this one? This Frame would probably be worth a hell of a lot of money—

Pa.

A soft slapping sound echoed as something rubbery and flexible landed on Grey’s chest.

He looked down to find the largest Cyber Warp he had ever laid eyes on fusing into his body.

"This has to be against some labor by-laws or something, what the fuck?"

—

[You have successfully defeated the Mark of the Gods Instance]

[+1051 Free Stat Points]

—

It was the last message Grey saw before his vision went black.