Second Genesis

Grey walked forward and tapped on Chogh’s shoulder.

"You’re unfrozen now."

Chogh’s eyes quivered in confusion and fear.

"Well, I guess you’ve never played freeze tag before. Get out of here before I shove my spear up your ass."

Chogh didn’t have to be told twice. He bolted out, half expecting a spear through his shoulder blades.

A sigh left Grey’s lips and he shook his head. He didn’t blame Chogh all that much, but he had a feeling there would be some annoyance to deal with because he had let the man walk out of here.

’Whatever. We’ll do things according to my own beat and rhythm. People who should die will die, but only when they give me good enough reason.’

Maybe it was because he wanted to respect Edmun’s words, or maybe it was because his fight with Calixan was the second time he had felt a real darkness about himself, but Grey wanted to try to be a better person.

If his thoughts weren’t so clouded with fury, maybe he could have understood the rhythm of his Last Paladin Frame a lot quicker and saved himself the trouble.

’Being mature is so annoying.’ Grey shook his head and then grinned at his Loot Boxes. ’What beauties.’

The Loot Boxes were all radiating a gorgeous silvery violet color. Grey had seen a tinge of this color before back when he dealt with the vampire pimp, so he was sure. These items were above Legendary.

These were three Mythic items.

It was odd, because the Mythical Loot Box Grey had supposedly gotten from the Mark of the Gods Instance had been golden, but this one followed the original color scheme. Had that one really been a Mythical Loot Box?

Grey was almost afraid to touch them, the boxes were too beautiful, and for more reasons than the color themselves. Normally, the boxes were formed from three-dimensional jigsaw pieces that almost looked like Tetris pieces in 3D. But now, rather than lines that went straight up or straight across, the pieces were curved and almost swirling, various elevations making it look more like a box an artisan had spent months crafting rather than the same sort of item that got kids to max out their parents’ credit cards.

Taking a breath, Grey raised his head and pressed a palm to the first Loot Box. There was a click, then a whir. The curved pieces slid out in relation to one another and the world gained a burst of the brightest of lights from it.

—

Name: Rank UP!

Rarity: Mythical

Class: Vector

Accepted Type: N/A

Rejected Type: N/A

Description: An item of great auspiciousness and fanfare. Take any item of the Proving, Established, or Vector Classes and elevate it to the Vector Class Mythical Rarity standard.

Abilities: Do you not know how to read? Look up, idiot.

Note: Some inconsistencies and weaknesses may appear when attempting to Rank UP! an item of the Established Class Mythical Status. But, attempting to use this item on a Mythical Vector Class Item may garner some additional, pleasant effects with a small chance of bumping it up to the Relic Rarity.

—

Grey started laughing. He had just been talking about getting as many rank ups as he needed to give his Shadow Forces long-term viability. To think it would appear so quickly.

However, for the time being, Grey didn’t rush to use it. It was still the smarter decision to wait until the end so that he could have all his options open to him.

He pressed his hand to the next one.

The gears of the Loot Box churned and the curved three-dimensional pieces slid out into empty space in relation to one another. In its place, a beautiful almost too feminine helm appeared.

It only covered down to your nose, and it had three gorgeous white feathers with vein patterns of gold sticking out of one side. The body of the helm itself was a polished silver that looked like it hadn’t been dinged a single time in its lifetime, the slits for the eyes almost looking like sharp eagle’s eyes.

If one squinted, it might have even looked more like something you wore to a masquerade ball than a battlefield.

—

Name: Helm of Grace

Rarity: Mythical

Class: Vector

Accepted Type: Resonant

Rejected Type: Linear; Branching; Recursive

Description: The Grace of a mother knows no bounds, the Grace of the world isn’t nearly so forgiving. Carry this love with you wherever you should go.

Abilities: Benefit from the Grace of a mother. Revert your body to a previous state within three seconds of time.

Cool down: 30 seconds.

—

’Holy shit...’

Grey’s eyes glowed when he saw this. This item was absolutely broken.

It didn’t boost his stats, but it literally let him bend reality. It was about as close to rewinding time as you could get.

It also didn’t seem to have a limit on what it meant by "reverting to a previous state" either. If he had his head chopped off, would the item activate all on its own so long as he hadn’t already had it chopped off within the last 30 seconds?

That was absolutely ridiculous, but it wasn’t even what Grey was thinking about using it for.

For one, he could already come back from the dead given the right conditions. So if he was ever going to use this helm to heal, it was going to be in a situation where he suffered a grievous injury like the loss of a limb, anything that would severely hamper his combat ability.

For something like that, the helm would be invaluable.

And yet that still wasn’t the main thing Grey wanted to use it for.

If he combined this helm with the rhythm of his Last Paladin Frame, even if his rhythm was interrupted, he could pick it right back up. Even if it was mis-timed, he could revert to a previous state and tweak it to the perfect alignment.

Meaning...

He would gain a lot more control over the brief windows of immunity Last Bulwark and Last Endurance gave him.

This helm would make him nigh invincible.

And that was before he even slotted it into the last slot available to his Helm Frame.

Grey grinned ear to ear and didn’t hesitate.

He waved a hand over his face, digitizing his Helm Frame into reality before pressing the Helm of Grace onto his face.