Second Genesis

Elowen rubbed at her eyes with her knuckles. It was an adorable action, one that left Grey smiling beside himself. It had to be some sort of cheat code to be that hot and cute at the same time. Usually a girl could only be one.

She walked up to the white light and pushed Grey out of the way, double and triple checking what she was seeing. But every time, it remained the same. Nothing was changing.

"You... are you the... creator of this mech?"

She looked at Grey with a completely different light in her eyes.

The technicians of the world fell into three major categories.

The first category were technicians. They usually worked on fixing what was already created at the lowest levels, and at the highest they could craft items and sometimes Enchanted Treasures on rare occasions.

A step above that, and in a category of their own, were mech technicians. These people could craft mechs, treasures that could synergize with their user’s Frames to make them far more powerful than normal treasures could. At the lowest levels, they could craft mechs, and at the absolute highest, they could craft Prosthetic Mechs capable of even replacing the function of some Neural Circuits instead of just synergizing with them.

But there was a step even further beyond that.

These were also mech technicians, but they were often known as "The Creators" by the mech and technician world.

These were individuals who didn’t just follow blueprints, but could craft and create them from scratch, seeking knowledge from the laws and secrets of the world to create blueprints.

It was impossibly rare for someone who wasn’t among the Creators to form a blueprint with 100% Synergistic Accuracy.

That had to mean they understood the mech as well as its creator itself did, and that was simply unheard of.

It was even rarer when this blueprint was part of a lineage.

There were some exceptional mech technicians who could, due to a bout of inspiration, step into the realm of Creator for a brief instant. The creations they made during these bouts of inspiration, or Enlightenment as it was called, often became their magnum opuses.

But for a blueprint that came from a Lineage, it assumed something repeatable. It meant that it came not just from a single bout of inspiration, but several.

This was a True Creator, a step above even a Creator, someone who could create not as a result of a single inspiring moment, but because they chose to.

If Elowen knew that Grey’s blueprint was from such a Lineage, her reaction may very well have been even fiercer.

"Me?" Grey chuckled. "No. I was not the creator of this. I just happen to understand it quite well."

What Grey didn’t know was that he technically was the creator. He hadn’t drawn the original blueprint in the first place, he had drawn a variation that removed the Curved Faces. This made this blueprint not only simpler than the Helm Frame he wore now, but technically his own personal creation.

Granted, if there were any law firms in the Genesis Games he would get sued out the ass for a clear act of plagiarism. But it was far more of an impressive feat than he knew.

"Oh..." Elowen’s gaze dimmed for a moment before brightening again. "This is still so very impressive. I didn’t expect such a high Synergistic Accuracy. This is worth a lot more as it is as good as having the original copy.

"Are you sure you want to sell this? You can go again for a lower rate. I will be happy with 70%, that way you can protect whatever masters you have."

Grey smiled. "Don’t worry about it, I really need a lot of items. What do you think I could get for this?"

"This...?" Elowen breathed out. "I don’t even know if I would be comfortable setting a price for you. A mech that can integrate with and elevate treasures to the standard of a mech is unheard of. And this one... can do it three times? Its structure even seems robust enough that it should be able to integrate Legendary items just fine as well.

"It’s Vector Class, so it isn’t weak and its parameters are excellent. The materials it needs aren’t overly rare or exceptional either, making it even more valuable and even possible to reproduce on a semi-large scale.

"This item isn’t even something I should be buying personally, it is something I’m sure Imperial Mother would be very interested in—."

Elowen covered her mouth. She seemed to have forgotten that she didn’t want people to know that she was a princess.

Grey just laughed and didn’t say much to it, something Elowen seemed to be grateful for. The fact Grey didn’t immediately start bowing and scraping put a smile on her face.

But maybe a mech technician with this level of talent shouldn’t have a need to be overly ingratiating toward a princess. He could definitely carve out his own path easily enough.

"—it might be better for you to trade. Do you want higher level items? I can bring a certified appraiser in for you."

"I only need Vector Class raw materials, blueprints, and Spirits. How many could this get me of those?"

"That is a bit trickier. For raw materials, if that was all you needed, you could have almost as many as you wanted, honestly. We don’t have blueprints on this level, but it would still only be worth about... maybe 10 to 20 of them depending? Spirits are the most difficult part as depending on the Vector Class Spirit, you may not even be able to trade for one of them."

"Is there an inventory listing I can look at?"

"Ah, yes."

Elowen walked to the other screen and flicked her fingers a few times before some options popped up.

"You can look through anything you want here. I can give you general estimates so you know what you’re working with."

Grey’s eyes glowed as he walked forward, his mind swirling with thoughts.