Second Genesis

After cursing up a storm, Grey decided not to care anymore and hurried to activate the tutorial. He didn’t have time to waste.

The last time he had made it to the city, he had died because of something absolutely ridiculous. Somehow, that arrogant holy knight bastard had managed to control the city and close the gates before he could escape.

He didn’t know how that happened, but if he had to guess, it was probably related to the fact that bastard was either the first or among the first to finish. As such, he got a reward he decided to waste on Grey for whatever reason.

Though Grey was cursing the man as stupid, he knew why Joaquin had done it. That was a man who liked control, to be the center of attention, to lead. He saw an opportunity to use Grey’s death to become extremely popular, so he had taken it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Whatever it was, Grey couldn’t allow him to finish first. Even when he was in the tutorial, he didn’t slow down. These people had screwed him over more than once before. He couldn’t trust anything they said.

But he also couldn’t afford to skip out on the tutorial either.

He had to clear this pending quest no matter what, but he didn’t even know where to start. He was hoping that this tutorial would have some information about Frames, or Prometheus, or maybe loops.

Grey stood in a white room and a screen appeared before him. It had three main categories. The first was Rules—he wasted not a single ounce of time on that.

The second was labeled Common Inquiries. He clicked through and found information about loot boxes, treasures, the divisions of monsters and challenges, etcetera.

The ranking of most things fell between Common up to Epic and Legendary, but the introduction also seemed to imply that there were higher-level things out there. Then the system made a stupid joke about him not having the chance at any of them.

Grey didn’t care, swiping through it all before he got to something that made him stop.

Nexis Suits.

’That was what the frog dude called them, right?’

Grey clicked through, and the first few lines confirmed what he had already come to know.

—

[... The Nexis Suit is a mesh of fibers designed to externalize one’s neural network. Formed to the specifications of its wearer, it allows active interaction with the Genesis Game User Interface, and forms a bridge that can allow the body to grow and evolve through stat gain and various other means of ability progression...]

—

It was as he speculated. Without the suit, he couldn’t even improve his stats.

He thought that the ring might change things, but after it failed to get him a weapon, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

’Let’s see, what else does it say... Blah, blah, user maintenance... blah...’

Grey was about to skip over some more stuff when he stopped and went back to the user maintenance page.

—

[... Proper maintenance of the Nexis Suit is the responsibility of the driver. Under heavy usage, the nodes will weaken and loosen, its positions shifting over time until the Sync Rate weakens...]

—

’Sync Rate.’

Those were the two words that caught Grey’s attention, because it was the very same pair of words on his Prometheus status screen. Could it be that the "frame" he needed to build was a Nexis Suit?

Right now, his Sync Rate read "N/A". So, presumably, whatever item the ring needed to interact with to give out a reading didn’t exist yet.

’But it also says that my Energy Reserve is "N/A", but this Nexis Suit introduction doesn’t say anything about energy or a reserve...’

—

[... Warning. It is very rare for the bodies of two individuals to be perfectly compatible with one another, even if the two are a pair of identical twins or have very similar body types. Attempting to use the Nexis Suit of another will end in failure or a poor sync. Backlash from forcing the issue can cause great damage to the nerves and body...]

—

’Well I guess that means I’m screwed. Fantastic.’

Grey didn’t even have the energy to be angry right now, but he was sure something else would piss him off soon enough.

’Wait. It said that similar body types don’t matter...’

His eyes continued to dart back and forth until he found the line that he was looking for.

—

[... In the worst-case scenario—a situation where the Nexis Suit of another must be used—it is best to check first if someone has a Compatible Sync. Though, without an expert eye, such a thing is impossible. The best way for a layman to check would be to assess if the Nexis Suit reacts to your neural network without bridge substances...]

—

’Without bridge substances... the gel.’

Grey’s pupils constricted into pinholes as he recalled the feeling of May’s suit. That day, he had definitely felt a jolt, and his hair gel hadn’t been involved at all.

’No way.’ Grey rejected the idea. He needed to live this time, and getting himself cornered as the guy who liked to strip and wear the clothes of naked women was not going to help. The risks outweighed the reward.

Grey grit his teeth. But without a Nexis Suit that he could use to interact, even if he did run into the items or information he needed about frames and how to build frames, how would he get them?

"FUCK!" Grey cursed again for the millionth time since this loop began.

He forced himself to take a breath. Out of habit, he almost ran his hand through his hair again, but he managed to refrain this time.

Either way, he wasn’t going to be killing an innocent woman just for the sake of it. She would at least have to attack him first.

Grey rapidly skimmed through the rest of everything before he finally got to the third category. It was simply named: Paths.

’Hm?’

The first category described the status screen. For the most part, it was identical to his own. It was just missing the "[Frame:]" section, as well as Sync Rate and Energy Reserve. This part also explained the stats and what each of them meant.

But it was something else that caught Grey’s attention.

It was a category listed as Technician.

If he recalled correctly, his pending quest screen had said...

—

[Mission Type: Technician]