Chapter 604: About Damn Time

Grey noticed two things almost immediately, though the first annoyed him enough that he nearly closed the screen before finding the second.

A pile of invitations had accumulated while he was unconscious, most of them coming from Producers or companies asking him to appear on talk shows, interviews, highlight breakdowns, and whatever other garbage apparently became available once the Second Arc began.

Grey stared at them for a few seconds, then immediately decided that sounded like one of the easiest ways imaginable for someone to fuck with him.

Anything that blurred the line between the Genesis Games and whatever existed outside of it made him uncomfortable, especially when he already knew people like Muse Incorporated could reach inside and start tugging on strings.

The last thing he needed was to sit across from some smiling alien asshole asking questions while three Producers tried to sneak contracts into his breakfast and a God crawled out of the bathroom.

Still, seeing the invitations reminded Grey of something important enough that he didn’t close the screen after all.

He had finished Chapter Three. More importantly, he had finished the entire First Arc in eighth place.

Grey slowly scrolled downward, wondering how the hell he had forgotten about something so obvious.

Chapter One had given him the Helm of Grace, which was still one of the most broken treasures he owned even if his damaged Helm Frame had kept him from leaning on it during the final battle.

Honestly, considering how much stronger Grey had become since receiving it, there was a chance he had already started outgrowing it, but the ability to revert his body to a previous state within three seconds was still ridiculous enough that he wasn’t ready to write it off.

Chapter Two had been just as generous.

The Bringer of Light Gloves had carried a lineage Grey still thought had far more room to grow, even after he had fully comprehended everything its creator had left behind.

If anything, understanding it completely had only convinced Grey that the original bastard stopped too early, and that opinion had been proven when Grey pushed beyond Holy Energy during the battle with the Goddess and began touching the Light beneath it.

He had relied on those gloves heavily during the final fight, which made the idea that Chapter Three had somehow rewarded him with nothing even more suspicious.

"There you are."

Three unopened notifications sat at the very bottom of the mess. Grey’s grin widened when he noticed another line above them.

—

[First Arc Cleared]

[Final Placement: 8th]

[Top Ten Arc Clearance Reward Applied]

—

"Now we’re talking."

Grey opened the first reward, and this time there wasn’t even a Loot Box involved. Knowledge flooded directly toward his mind, but before it entered, a familiar status screen unfolded in front of him.

—

Name: Blueprint — Melix Territorial Formation

Rarity: Ascended

Class: Dominus

Accepted Type: N/A

Rejected Type: N/A

SA-Index: 100%

Description: A complete record of the Melix Territorial Formation, including its central catacomb nexus, all subsidiary nodes, external branches, defensive pathways, Holy Energy circulation routes, teleportation channels, and territorial extensions.

Contains complete construction, maintenance, modification, and repair specifications for every currently existing branch of the formation.

Abilities: N/A

—

Grey’s smile disappeared. Then it came back twice as wide.

"Holy shit."

This wasn’t merely a map of the formation, it was the entire fucking thing.

Every question Grey had been answering through deduction was suddenly sitting in front of him at a perfect 100% SA-Index, including the branches extending beneath the satellite cities and the exact pathways connecting them to the capital.

He had just spent an hour telling former monarchs where to protect the formation based mostly on what he had pieced together himself, and now the Genesis System had handed him the answer sheet.

That alone was an absurd reward.

Grey immediately opened the second.

A tiny shield-shaped emblem appeared above his palm, though the light radiating from this one was so dense that its edges almost looked solid.

—

Name: Rank UP!

Rarity: Ascended

Class: Dominus

Accepted Type: N/A

Rejected Type: N/A

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

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

Note: Unlike lesser Rank UP! items, no inconsistencies or weaknesses will occur during elevation regardless of the target item’s original Class or Rarity. Attempting to use this item on an Ascended Dominion Class Item may garner some additional, pleasant effects.

—

Grey’s eyes almost bulged.

He had received weaker versions of Rank UP! twice before, and both had come with catches when he tried pushing something already too close to their limits.

This one apparently didn’t give a shit, meaning Grey could take practically any treasure he owned and instantly drag it all the way to Ascended Rarity and Dominus Class without ruining its original abilities along the way.

His eyes immediately flickered toward his Shadow Forces before he stopped himself.

"Nope, don’t be stupid."

He couldn’t waste it on his shoes no matter how much he wanted to.

The Bringer of Light Gloves were an option, the Helm of Grace was an option, Veyrath’s bracelet was definitely an option if it could work on mechs, that is, and there were probably another dozen things sitting inside his inventory that could become monstrous if he used this correctly.

But... if this Phase IV upgrade went well, then it would be idiotic not to use this on Ma Famille, right? He really couldn’t do this alone. The scale of everything was growing too large, too quickly.

Grey carefully stored the Rank UP! before turning toward the final reward, expecting something even more ridiculous after the first two.

A lump of black ore appeared above the table.

Grey frowned.

It wasn’t particularly large, perhaps enough to fill a hand if he cupped it, and its surface was so dark that the sunlight pouring through the windows seemed to vanish against it. There was no shine, no reflection, no visible grain in the metal, and even Grey’s Resonant Sense seemed to slip strangely around the thing instead of returning useful information.

"What the hell are you?"

He opened its status.

—

Name: ???

Rarity: ???

Class: ???

Accepted Type: ???

Rejected Type: ???

Description: ???

Abilities: ???

—

Grey stared at the screen for a long moment, then leaned closer to the ore as though getting his face within biting distance would somehow make the question marks disappear.

Even the Genesis System didn’t seem willing or able to tell him what he was looking at, which immediately made the ugly black rock several times more interesting than it had been ten seconds earlier.

Inside Grey’s mind, the angel lady had gone completely silent.

His eyes slowly narrowed, while somewhere within their connection, he felt something quite clear and obvious...

Recognition.

Grey’s grin faded slightly as the angel lady stared at the black ore, and when she finally spoke, her voice had become unusually serious.

"I know what it is." she said with a sigh.