Second Genesis

Intent could come in many forms. But most often it was two forms. The first was an understanding of the overall purpose of the mech and the second was its Spirit.

The iron jaw was simple. Its purpose was clear and direct, while the Spirit had been Prometheus.

Grey assumed that if Esmeralda had prepared all of this, she already had a prepped Spirit for the Ball Bearing Eye. As for the intent for a prosthetic, it was a bit more complicated.

The entire body’s Neural Frame was a whole ecosystem. Just because a portion of a Neural Frame was designed to be mostly used by the eye didn’t mean that it would have no relation to the nose, or the mouth, or even the feet by some convoluted extension.

If you just thought about filling it with the intent of an eye, you would fail.

This was also why Esmeralda was important. No one would understand the usual purpose of the Neural Frame networks around her eye more than she would.

"Hold on." Grey said.

"What did you just say?" Esmeralda spoke with an underlying danger in her tone, but Grey didn’t waver.

"You look like you distrust me a lot. I don’t know what I’ve done to offend you," Grey said shamelessly, "but I don’t trust you."

"What?" Esmeralda’s voice came out in even more of a growl.

"I will help you, but only if you give me my payment first. Those materials are obviously going to be mine, but what I actually mean is my three questions."

The danger flickering in Esmeralda’s eyes really caught Grey off guard. Was this witch serious? The prosthetic wasn’t going anywhere, did she really not have this much patience?

’There’s definitely something wrong. It’s like she’s been growing crazier every loop. Does she have memories of what’s happening?’

Grey looked over toward Amunet, but he couldn’t see through any of her shadows. She might as well have been unreadable, so he had no idea if it was just Esmeralda who was the problem, or if it was everyone.

However, no one else who Grey had escaped death at the hands of ever seemed to be shocked that he was alive. And Esmeralda didn’t exactly seem shocked right now, she just felt... unhinged. Almost like someone was loosening those nuts in her brain a bit more every time he died.

’Is it because she’s so powerful she can sense my loops a bit?’

Grey had no idea, he was just spitballing ideas. Esmeralda was definitely the strongest person he had ever met, and presumably, another powerful person had to be the one who created Prometheus.

So if power could allow the latter, then why couldn’t power allow you to sense the changes?

"Fine. What are your questions?" Esmeralda asked coldly. "Be quick." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Grey’s gaze flashed. ’Good.’

"Stamina. Mine has been stuck at 10 even though I’ve increased my Endurance several times. Why is it stuck? How do I improve it?"

Derision flashed in Esmeralda’s eyes.

"Stamina is a measure of more than just the physical body, it is a measure of one’s Neural Frame and how much pressure it can withstand. Your Endurance could be a million, but if your Class is too weak, it is irrelevant."

Grey’s eyes narrowed. So the real problem with his stamina was related to his Neural Frame. But in that case, the training he had been doing in the outlook Safe Room should have worked.

Why hadn’t it?

"You didn’t answer," Grey said, "how do I improve it?"

"If you’re stuffing a million questions into one thinking it’ll count as just one, you’re being a bit too shameless, aren’t you?" Esmeralda smiled dangerously.

"I’m giving you a Prosthetic Mech in exchange for questions answered. I might not be experienced, but I bet every mech goes for a pretty penny. If anything, I’m basically doing you a favor."

Barkeep Ji’s prices for the blueprints alone for this would have been off the charts, Grey was sure.

"I’ve already answered your question. If you want to improve your stamina, you need to improve your Neural Frame. And if you want to improve your Neural Frame, you need to improve your Class Frame. And in order to improve your Class Frame, you need to master its abilities until they are second nature to you. Only then will your Endurance begin to properly reflect in your Stamina.

"If you want good stamina, then you need a higher grade Frame."

’Grade?’ Grey really wanted to ask about this, but he hesitated. He only had two questions left and he had to be careful with them. Maybe if he died again, he could get another set of answers, but he wasn’t going to bet his life on that.

"I see..." Grey nodded. "How many Frames can a person have? What differentiates their strengths?"

He had noticed himself gain a second one and it made him curious. Could he just endlessly form Frames?

"A person can only have one Frame per Class." Esmeralda stopped, but as though afraid that Grey would accuse her of skimping on answers, she continued. "Sometimes you can upgrade a Frame to the next Class by improving or adding to its abilities. So that might not technically count as a new Frame.

"The strength of a Frame is decided by its Abilities. A Perfect Frame will have at least one Ability of every category for a total of six. Sub-Frames have less. Usually, Level 10 is the limit of the Proving Class, and that improves by 10 levels for every Class above."

Grey blinked and then looked at his status screen. That was... definitely more than one Frame.

’Is it because I have more than one Type? And does that mean Magnetic Hero isn’t a Perfect Frame? It only had three Abilities, and two of them were Mind Combat... Lame.’

Had he made a mistake choosing it, then? But Esmeralda did say it was possible to upgrade a Frame...

Grey took a breath and steadied himself. He had only one question left.

He hesitated for a moment. Should he ask another question about his strength? Or, should he...

"... What do you know about the Fog of Chaos?"

Esmeralda shook from head to toe. Her lips parted, and then pressed together into a tight line before parting again.

"The only advice I have for you is to forget the Fog of Chaos. It has cost our three Races everything we once had. Now, only I remain of the witches..." her gaze looked a bit forlorn.

"Can I... still know?" Grey probed as softly as he could. Esmeralda felt like a ticking time bomb and he really didn’t want to press too hard if he could help it. But his Legendary Quest was too vague. The fact it mentioned the Savage Races and the Fog of Chaos was all he had.

To his surprise, Esmeralda didn’t seem enraged. In fact, she reacted a lot like how Globb had back then. Her eyes glazed over, her body froze, and she almost spoke as though someone else was speaking through her.

"The Fog of Chaos... it was what cursed the Dark Kin so many centuries ago. Our—Savage Races grew too arrogant, believing we could fly much closer to the sun, only to be cast down even further than they were..."

Esmeralda snapped out of her sudden stupor and her eyes sharpened with danger.

"That’s your third question. The prosthetic. Now."

Grey didn’t fight back, handing it over to her. "Focus on what you once used the Neural Frame network in that region of your face and eye for in the past. In fact, if you can think of any abilities that used them, focus on that."

Esmeralda nodded, the greed in her eyes practically spilling over as she pressed the prosthetic to her face. Her thoughts were already swirling with what she’d do after this.

Once the Prosthetic Mech was in place, she could kill this descendant of the Mechanical Jaw and take his lineage. This Proving Class prosthetic would tide her over for the time being until she grasped the lineage enough to build one fitting her station.

Grey had crafted a Prosthetic Mech of all things so easily. What could she do with such a legacy?

The greed was practically spilling over into the pulsing veins of her scarred face. It looked as though thick earthworms were riding beneath her skin.

"You’re a real bitch, you know that?" Grey asked.

"Huh?" Esmeralda asked just as the eye fused into her own.

A scream of pain left her lips as the fusion process began. It was a familiar pain every mech user had to go through.

But very soon, it wouldn’t be just that alone.

"Go fuck yourself." Grey said coldly.

BANG.