Second Genesis

At some unknown point while Grey was devouring his meal, Stella and the others bade him goodbye and left, seemingly feeling like waiting around in the Safe Room wasn’t conducive to their success anymore.

The more they waited around for Grey, the less advancement they would make, and the further behind they would fall.

Grey gave them a wave without looking up. Honestly, killing people was quite cathartic, even if they came back to life. He didn’t have the same hatred for them that he had had before, especially after he kicked them off their quest—now that had been a good day.

The fact they were still trying to kill him was more like a fly buzzing around his house at this point.

"So, barkeep." Grey pulled the brass orb out of his pocket and slammed it onto the counter.

—

Warning—

—

The bar cracked and Grey’s lip twitched. He put his hands up in surrender.

"My bad, my bad, my bad, don’t kill me Genesis overlords."

Ji chuckled. "You seem to have undergone quite the transformation."

Grey groaned. "Don’t remind me. What did I do to deserve this?"

"Maybe people would kill for this opportunity, you know."

"I’ve had enough opportunities. Take this one away. Give me more Free Stats instead. This is just ridiculous."

Ji laughed uproariously and then looked down at the orb with narrowed eyes.

"Do you know what this thing is? I’m trying to figure out whether I should give it to an annoying Baron or just take his head instead. I can’t scan it at all, though. My status screen doesn’t even react to it."

"You cannot scan this because it is above Mythic. This is a Relic."

"Useless fucking system." Grey cursed.

"It is impossible to scan items more than two tiers above you or above Mythic because the system often cannot properly assess them. But if I had to guess, this is what is normally known as a Mech Soul."

"A Mech Soul?"

"Yes. It can be used in two main different ways, and it can only be used a single time unless its creator or an equally skilled smith takes action.

"The first way it is used is to cover for the weakness of a Mech Technician. If a product is close to completion, but not quite there, or a mistake has been made, this Mech Soul can infuse into it, filling in all of its foundational weaknesses.

"The second way is to elevate an already completed product to a new tier of existence. This is especially useful for something as valuable as a Prosthetic Mech which are hard to come by and often gain a sense of attachment from its user."

Grey frowned. This explanation sounded nice and everything, but it didn’t seem worth all the fanfare.

No, it made perfect sense that Giyoto would want it. He probably wanted to complete the armor that Globb hadn’t finished. Globb’s skill was probably also lacking.

This also explained why a Vanguard Class existence like Giyoto would need a Proving Class mech tech like Grey. Logically, nothing Grey could make would be useful to Giyoto.

Esmeralda had been a special case because she needed an eye to reclaim some of her original power, but Giyoto’s armor seemed designed to boost the power he already had. The latter was obviously much harder.

But none of that explained why this Mech Soul would be sealed in the tomb like it had been.

"Are you sure that’s everything?"

Ji raised an eyebrow, his webbed hands hovering over the orb.

"If you’re looking for a specific answer, I can’t give you that. But what I can tell you is that the secret of the worth of a Mech Soul is in the word Soul. The ore—though it can hardly be called that anymore—can work because it is infused with the life of the mech tech that created it.

"Because it has a life of its own, it can act independently, understanding what a mech needs to improve and acting upon it itself.

"If you think this Mech Soul is more special than what I’ve already said, then it means that the life breathed into it is particularly special."

Grey took a quick stand in realization of something, but his belly slapped against the counter and sent waves of pain through him.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Grey cursed, rubbing at his belly. He almost drew blood there for a second.

But he soon recovered, a grin spreading across his face.

—

Name: Altar of the Savages

Rarity: Mythic

Accepted Type: N/A

Rejected Type: N/A

Description: An altar of forgetfulness and erasure, but also one of hope and revenge.

Abilities: At the Sacrifice of a Blessed Item, accumulate Blessed Aura to form a Blessing Carapace, allowing perfect resistance against the Fog of Chaos and immunity to Holy Type Abilities.

—

The key was right there. "Allowing perfect resistance against the Fog of Chaos."

The Mech Soul wasn’t trapped down there. In fact, before the tomb opened, it was probably the one doing the trapping.

Whoever’s life was infused into this Mech Soul, they had the very special ability of restraining the Fog of Chaos, and not just any Fog of Chaos either.

The little bracelets and blessed items Grey had only seemed effective against the wispy, mist-like Fog of Chaos he had run into. But against the thick, black, dense sort of Fog of Chaos like the one he came across when he fought Valdris, it was utterly useless.

But this item had been able to suppress it.

And now Giyoto wanted it.

Giyoto probably felt that if he had this item, he could use it to complete his armor even if Grey’s skill was lacking. Then, between it and the Blessing Carapace the altar formed...

’He would be able to go down into that abyss.’

The only question left was singular.

If Grey already got Giyoto the Mech Soul, what the hell else down there was still so useful? What did Giyoto want so badly?

Unless... it wasn’t that he wanted something, but instead that he wanted to do something.

Maybe even trap something that should have never been released in the first place.

Something that was probably in Bishop Calixan’s body right this moment.

Grey grinned ear to ear, his eyes vanishing beneath his fat folds.