Second Genesis

Grey took a breath. Why could nothing ever be simple?

He had gone through all the trouble of getting his hands on the Mechanical Jaw Lineage’s Tome, and now he found out just its simplest blueprint was worth so much and he couldn’t even use it?

While Grey hadn’t known the Barkeep for long, he knew that that smile not only meant "yes", but it also meant that he had no plans of explaining further. In that case, he could only guess himself.

’It can’t be as simple as the Mechanical Jaw Lineage coming after me, right? If they were so dangerous, then why would they need me to find their tome in the first place? The Quest heavily implied that they were pretty much all gone. Unless...’

Grey suddenly recalled how eager that prick had been to kill Globb, almost like the gnome had been tolerated until now, but the moment he crossed a line, he was wiped from existence.

The tome that Grey had brought back had been in the tool belt, so the captain had never directly seen it. If he had seen that Grey had it on his person, would it have meant death for Grey too? Could it be a crime to have such a thing in general?

But then why didn’t he get killed just for having this iron jaw?

’Globb also had an iron jaw, though. It was just different from mine.’

Grey looked up at the barkeep, wondering if the frog man knew just how much information he was giving him. And if the frog man did know, then why was he being so helpful?

Was it just his job? Or was it something else?

If this really came with as much danger as Grey thought, then he had more problems than he knew. The moment those knights realized he had been carrying the tome, there might be some retaliation.

’I have to get the tool belt back,’ Grey thought, taking a deep breath. ’Okay, I can’t give up the Looping Necklace, it’s off limits. But—.’

Grey suddenly grinned. "How much would you buy a Nexis Suit for?"

Barkeep Ji blinked. "Well, Nexis Suits are highly specialized and unique to the individual. But you could probably still sell them for around 100 credits for the materials alone."

"Great."

Without hesitation, Grey tossed over May and Ray’s suits, then he kicked over the dark-skinned man’s spear. That made for a total of 212 credits.

"I’ll take the Uncommon Holy Item."

"Okay." Barkeep Ji said calmly.

"I said I want it!" Stella stood to her feet, pressing her palms to the bar.

Barkeep Ji blinked. "I’m sorry, young lady. However, there is no bartering or bidding allowed within the Safe Room save for special instance auctions. This participant here opened the conversation of Holy Items and shopping first, so I am afraid you cannot interject."

Stella’s eyes bulged. She had just been about to ask about this exact thing.

From the start, she had known that Grey would be likely to be present here, but she didn’t see any other way.

Her rage had already been boiling after seeing M’bade’s corpse outside. The psychopath had obviously been killing again, so when Grey appeared, she had been too distracted to care about her original intentions.

Now, she had actually lost out when she was so close. There was no way she’d be willing to sell her truly valuable items for the Rare Holy Item.

What worried her more, though, was why Grey needed it. Could he have the same goal as her? If that was the case, this was horrible.

Grey was having the same thoughts as Stella, but he was inwardly sighing a breath of relief. At the very least, he got his hands on it without having to go into a bidding war.

He had known the rules of the Safe Room ahead of time thanks to the tutorial, but he was too used to this world screwing him over.

After he sold his treasures, Barkeep Ji handed over the item.

—

Name: A Beauty’s Hairclip

Rarity: Uncommon (BLESSED) (LIMITED)

Accepted Type: Resonant

Rejected Type: Linear; Branching; Recursive

Description: Blessed by the Goddess of Unity, the Beauty’s Hairclip is a bound item designed for the chosen of her holiness. Graced by the Goddess’ goodwill, it grants the user immunity to status effects triggered by Mind Enhancements within three Levels of the user’s Mental Resistance.

Abilities: +5 END; +5 INT; +10 PER.

—

Grey grinned. This was good.

The item was definitely good, especially after he fell into that illusion without even knowing earlier. But it wasn’t to the point where he couldn’t bear to part from it. He didn’t mind handing this over to the baron.

Stella, though, wasn’t nearly as happy. Grey could practically hear her teeth grinding.

’No, I really can hear her teeth grinding. Is this really just PER?’

Grey shook the thought off and his gaze landed on the barkeep.

"Thank you."

"Always at your service." Barkeep Ji said with a polite bow.

"Are there any other special properties of this outpost that I should know?"

"Other than the fact it protects against the Fog of Chaos, it is possible to use a teleportation platform to return to the city instantaneously from here. However, it costs 50 credits for a single usage. There are also a few practice rooms and accommodations for lodging if this is what you are looking for."

"No discounts?" Grey asked.

Barkeep Ji laughed. "The teleportation fee is standard, I’m afraid. However, you are allowed to use the practice rooms and accommodations freely as you are the one who successfully awakened this outpost."

"How convenient. Do I get any perks for being a Knight?"

Barkeep Ji smiled that familiar dangerous smile. Subtle and hard to read, Grey really wasn’t sure what to make of it this time.

"In that case, I’ll just take one of those training rooms."

Grey walked past the bar and toward a spiraling staircase that went up.

"Don’t miss me too much." He said toward Stella and the others.