The blaring sounds of horns filled Grey’s ears, every vibration sending another crack through his body. For a moment, it was like a chorus of angels had peered out from the clouds on high, stepping over the edge, fluttering their wings wide open, and raising their trumpets to their lips.
It was such a beautiful melody, and yet it was stuck within his skin, ping-ponging across his bones and shattering them with each echo.
Grey could see how this sort of pain would have sent someone over the edge.
But it almost felt like he was back to kicking at bamboo to condition his shins. It hurt, sure. But it wasn’t to the point he felt the need to cry out.
Maybe the Genesis System had really desensitized him to what true pain was, because even with his own bones fracturing continuously, he hardly even sweated more than he would normally.
The longer he remained unbothered, the clearer the patterns became to him and the more of a rhythm he felt for it all.
Grey felt a flicker within him.
There was somewhere else he had heard a melody as well.
His Goblin Warlord Spirit.
It thrummed with drums in his ears when he first started using it. These days, it was a lot easier to ignore. It became like a background noise he ignored.
But now Grey was wondering if he should have ignored them at all.
’It sounds so... similar...’
Sparks of electricity pulsed in Grey’s eyes as the music layered for him.
The pain was so distant one wouldn’t have thought he was experiencing it at all. Instead, he sank deeper and deeper into the melody, his mind almost being massaged by it.
It sank deeper and deeper until all of a sudden, it wasn’t his bone it was resonating with, but instead his Neural Frame itself.
Grey’s teeth clenched hard, rattling beneath the impact. He felt like his body was being ripped apart.
This pain was a lot closer to what he had experienced with the Genesis System, but it was still nowhere near there. He could still maintain his lucidity, just enough for him to feel the two melodies almost fuse together.
The Holy Trumpets were so beautiful...
But they had been missing drums.
All of a sudden, the melody wasn’t just a soothing tone, it was an oppressive cadence, a thrumming beat that shook the heart and made certain to alert one that it was the harbinger.
All it was missing...
Was a voice.
Grey roared beside himself. It felt like a roar that echoed not from himself, but from a long-lost line. It was a pride that went beyond what one could have formed for themselves alone.
It was a pride that came from generations, a pride built atop the shoulders of giants and the descendants of giants, a pride steeped in culture, in pain, in hope.
Grey shattered through a barrier and his body sparked with arcs of white and gold electricity, his hair standing on end as rings of gold appeared around his crimson eyes.
A foul odor coated his body, but it seemed to be burned away for the most part, falling to the ground in streaks of ash.
Grey took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as the energy of the elixir was dispersed through the rest of his body, sucked up dry as though his flesh was the dry desert and the elixir was a sprinkling fall of water.
’This feeling...’
Grey was certain.
Goblin Warlord Spirit was no longer just a Frameless Ability. It had fused to his Holy Frame.
And he doubted it was still just known as Goblin Warlord Spirit either.
—
[Name: Grey Temolt]
[Named Affiliation: Disciple of Sir Trolley]
—
[Frame: Prometheus]
[Frame: Magnetic Hero (Proving Class)]
[Frame: Vampire Lord (Proving Class)]
[Frame: Paladin (Proving Class)]
[Pending Quests: 2]
—
Stamina: 111/111
Sync Rate: 0.012%
Energy Reserve: 0.3/20.1
—
Sync Rate: N/A
Energy Reserve: N/A
—
Sync Rate: N/A
Energy Reserve: N/A
—
Sync Rate: N/A
Energy Reserve: N/A
—
STR: 33 (+15) SPD: 52
DEX: 77 (+50) INT: 61
END: 61 PER: 73 (+50)
—
Harmonic Stats: N/A
Free Stat Points: 289
—
Abilities:
Body
Resistances: Lv7 Iron Veil
Combat: Lv7 Heart Lance
Enhancements: Lv8 Metal Body; Lv8 Metal Digestion; Lv8 Metal Fusion; Lv6 Hemorrhagic Regeneration
Mind
Resistances: Lv8 Mental Fortitude; Lv4 Abyssal Anchor
Combat: Lv2 Magnetic Pull; Lv2 Magnetic Push; Lv3 Void Gaze
Enhancements: Lv8 Metal Affinity; Lv1 Magnetic Resonance; Lv7 Crimson Cognition; Lv3 Paladin Spirit.
—
’Paladin Spirit... it fell down four levels, too. Weird. But that stamina...’ Grey grinned.
It wasn’t just the acute change to his stamina that was such a big deal. He had a feeling from now on, at least up to a certain point, he would have a much easier time improving his stamina as well.
This Paladin Frame was definitely superior to his previous Holy Frame as well, so there was also more room than usual to improve his stamina.
Regardless, with how many Frames he had, he needed his stamina to be amazing. Otherwise, even if one day he really did get four or five Frames worth keeping, he wouldn’t be able to use them to their fullest potential.
If activating just Vampire Lord burned him out in a minute or two, what would happen if he tried to activate two or more Frames at the same time?
Luckily, it seemed that he at least had a short-term solution.
’I feel strong even though my stats didn’t improve. I almost can’t believe I struggled so much with piggy.’
On top of everything, the effect Grey was hoping he would get and one of the underlying reasons he had done all of this in the first place played out just as he expected.
His body wasn’t just healed, it was even better than it had been before Edmun ran him into the ground and he almost died to that bastard Joaquin.
’Great. Now I just need to get the fuck out of here.’
Grey had only just had the thought when the voice echoed.
"Reveal yourself."