Second Genesis

The walk was completely silent, and for a moment Grey thought that it would take days to travel to where Esmeralda was going. What he didn’t expect was that there was a cabin stationed just half a minute from the vampire lair.

It was like Esmeralda had never had any real respect for the vampires at all and had just set up her abode here to taunt them.

’This cabin is practically identical to the Wicked Forest Witch’s...’ Grey thought, feeling that it couldn’t have possibly been a coincidence.

The introduction had said that this was a flash from the past, but there was no way that the Wicked Forest Witch and Esmeralda were one and the same. The Wicked Forest Witch was far too weak.

The inside of the cabin was completely unlike the one Grey had been in, though.

The location of the fireplace was far further back, so there probably wasn’t some hidden back room beyond it. And, right in the middle of everything was a huge table that was easily six or more inches thick of just solid wood.

On the table, at its center, was a Cyber Mat with a scattered array of materials, Cyber Cores, and what looked like scrapped blueprints.

’Did she set this place up specifically to fix her eye? What does that have to do with the vampire pimp? Did she think they could help her?’

Esmeralda waved a hand and a gust moved quite a number of materials away into a scattered pile to the side. Then, she waved a hand again and three neat piles appeared.

Each pile was stacked onto the thick table and stood taller than Grey. His lip couldn’t help but twitch.

Were these the three sets of materials he asked for? The blueprint for a Proving Class eye required this much? That was just ridiculous.

Grey forced down his own doubts. There were too many of them. Whether it was his lack of understanding in what he was getting himself into or how Esmeralda would react when he failed, he couldn’t think about this right now.

"Here are the blueprints I have procured."

Esmeralda waved another hand and stacks upon stacks of blueprints appeared. There must have been at least half a dozen stacks and each one was just as tall as the materials piles.

’Holy shit...’ Grey cursed inwardly and looked toward Esmeralda. "You have no idea which one of these works, do you?"

Esmeralda gave him a sad smile. "Unfortunately, my crafting skill is not on the level of your Mechanical Jaw Lineage. Prosthetic Mech blueprints are also exceptionally hard to come by. Whether they are fake or not, I do not have the expertise to tell, I could only try them all. But I have only been met with failure.

"To make matters worse, it is difficult for me to tell if it is my own lack of skill or the blueprint that is the problem. I’ll have to rely on you."

Grey’s brows pinched. There was no way he knew more about crafting mechs than Esmeralda did. His education came from a tome he could barely read because his Nexis Suit wasn’t working properly.

By the time he had been able to use the pinky ring as a replacement for his Nexis Suit, Sabrina had appeared and he didn’t get a chance to go over the tome again before that damned holy knight took it.

He had never even heard of whatever this "prosthetic mech" category was. But he had his guesses based on the words alone.

The conclusion was simple.

He was screwed.

Amunet stood silently by the side. It was impossible to see her expression as she was shrouded by shadows. But considering how stiff her figure looked, it seemed that she could feel the gravity of the situation as well.

Maybe she would have been inclined to believe in Esmeralda’s kindness if her forcing herself to come here hadn’t been such a blatant power grab. It seemed that in her excitement, the witch had let her mask slip a little too much.

Grey walked forward and pulled out a random blueprint.

His mind immediately went dizzy. Countless lines and symbols, branching points and numbers. It felt like he was looking at a mechanical parts specification chart.

Materials, grades, each one layered on top of one another.

Grey put it to the side and picked up another, and then another.

They all looked the same in terms of complexity. Compared to how simple the Mechanical Jaw had been, this was orders of magnitude different. It didn’t even feel like the same level.

"This is not of the Proving Class." Grey finally said, looking at Esmeralda. But all he got was the same sad, pitiable smile.

"I’m afraid that most of them are not, no. There are many of the Vector Class and Vanguard Class beyond. I naively tried to find the ones that were as powerful as possible."

Grey’s gaze flickered. ’She said many. Does that mean that some of them here are of the Proving Class? Is she trying to test me? What is the point of this? If she just wants to know whether I can do it or not, just give me the best chance. What is the point of these games?’

The only answer was that she didn’t believe he could anyway and wanted to watch him squirm.

That spike of happiness she had felt earlier had long plummeted to nothing after logic took hold. She was already just going through the motions, waiting for a reason to act.

’This is a person with nothing to live for.’

Grey took a breath and turned toward Esmeralda.

"Tell me. What are the methods through which I can increase my stamina?"

Esmeralda raised an eyebrow. "Is this one of your questions?"

"It is."

Esmeralda smiled. "I see. Well, as kind as I am, until you fulfill your end, I will not be answering any of your questions."

Grey’s gaze flickered. It seemed he wouldn’t be able to con his way out of this one. In fact, it seemed that his question had only made her more skeptical.

Why would someone who could build Prosthetic Mechs not know this already?

He turned toward the piles before him.

It was make or break now.