—
Operation: Spark Flame
Quest Rank: Uncommon
Mission Type: Two-Part
Objective: Craft an Established Class Titanframe of 0.20% Sync Rate or better and Kill a Vessel of Chaos.
Description: The Vessels of Chaos are all around us. Harbingers of destruction as they are, they hide in plain sight, ready to strike and sow discord at the slightest sign of a chance. It is your duty as a harbinger of light to snuff out theirs.
Reward: Access to Prometheus Phase II
Punishment: Flame Extinguishment.
—
Part I: Complete
Part II: Pending...
—
’Oh... alright. I guess that’s not too bad... too bad I have no idea what the fuck a Vessel of Chaos is...’
Grey sighed. ’Fine, fine. Whatever. I guess I’ll have to do that too.’
At least he wasn’t going to be wandering around blind wondering why it was he couldn’t access Established Class stuff as easily as he used to. It was also good news that he wasn’t perfectly barred from using the pinky ring either.
If that was the case and he had to leave his Legendary Loot Boxes here he might actually find a bridge to leap off of.
’Speaking of Legendary Loot Boxes...’
Grey reached a hand forward and touched the next one. A familiar animation played out, a beautiful unwinding adventure of three-dimensional jigsaw pieces until they faded out of existence.
Left behind was yet another tome.
’I’m getting really tired of getting these.’ Grey grumbled. He was about to complain some more when there was a flash of golden flames and a burning sun appeared on its cover. ’Huh?’
—
Name: Establishing Path Tome
Rarity: Legendary
Class: Established
Accepted Type: N/A
Rejected Type: N/A
Description: Those who follow the path of their own Frame are few and far between. The road ahead is arduous and painstaking, but it is often one that those with multi-Frames must take to fulfill the true limits of their talent.
Abilities: Forms a compendium of every Ability potentially compatible with one’s Unique Frame up to the Established Class, workshopping potential clashes and unexpected pitfalls.
—
Grey’s brows shot up.
The reason he had paused earlier was because he had felt an aura very similar to his own Helion Frame, but he hadn’t been sure. It also felt like an odd coincidence. It wasn’t like his luck was so great something like this would just appear on a platter for him.
But it seemed that was because the tome had sensed his Unique Frame—it called it—and then adjusted to it.
Could it only do that once? Because Grey still had one more Frame he could form.
’Whatever. We’ll find out later.’
For now, his Helion Frame Abilities could finally reach Level 10. They had been stuck at around Level 6 because his stats were too weak to accommodate their upgrade. But now, his stats were more than enough.
Grey was also wondering about how he could integrate his Vampire Lord Class with the Blood Witch’s tome a bit more, but he never had time to just sit and do something that wasn’t existential.
He had downloaded three skills from the tome and had yet to progress them to a place where he could use them casually in battle. He had a lot more work to do on that front.
’It might be worth it to use the upgrade reward on the tome... Hm...’
Grey set that thought aside and pressed his hand to the last and final Loot Box floating in front of him. The jigsaw pieces slid out from within themselves and then vanished in a flash of blinding light.
A shield appeared before Grey, bright and beautiful. It was as tall as a tower, but then it shrank down to that of a small round shield, then it collapsed in on itself further until it was only the size of an even smaller parry shield, before it collapsed completely into a subtle wrist sheath.
—
Name: Turning Shield
Rarity: Legendary (DAMAGED)
Class: Established
...
—
’What the fuck?’
Grey was disappointed when he saw the shield. But the last thing he was expecting was for a damaged item to appear. What good was a damaged shield to him?
His lips pursed as he took the item. It slotted itself onto his left wrist almost like a second skin. It was a beautiful little piece, shingles of gold, silver, and white forming hexagonal patterns that moved in relation to one another every time he wiggled his hands.
—
Name: Turning Shield
Rarity: Legendary (DAMAGED)
Class: Established
Accepted Type: Resonant
Restricted Type: Recursive; Linear; Branching
Description: A shield of many battles. Long fallen to disrepair, it hasn’t forgotten its pride. It will never break, it will never shatter. Should it be repaired one day, it will soar beyond the heights it has once achieved as its spirit has been forged through fire.
Abilities: Unbreakable.
—
Grey’s eyes narrowed. ’Is that so...’
The Turning Shield suddenly became a small round shield under Grey’s control and he let out a small roar as he punched toward the ground.
BANG.
The shield slammed into the hard marble and Grey felt a reverberating impact that nearly shattered his own bones. The amount of strength he had put behind that wasn’t small, it took everything he had.
And yet...
It was the ground of this sacred place that cracked.
"Hohoho... not bad."
The shield had no ability to absorb impact, and Grey had to withstand whatever travelled through it himself. But, having something that was unbreakable was pretty good.
It almost certainly had its limits. Grey would be an idiot if he took the descriptions of this Genesis System so casually, especially after it took so much pleasure in killing him.
However, this shield was not bad. If it could withstand Vanguard attacks, it was already good enough for Grey.
Of course... Grey had no idea there was a Command Class waiting for him. His thoughts were actually elsewhere.
He had decided what to use Rank UP! on. It wasn’t going to be the tome, or the fang set.
He decided that he needed a sharper, faster method of movement, one with less restrictions and more flexibility. He could have all the skill in the world, but if he couldn’t dodge fast enough or chase, he was screwed.
His newly minted Level 11 Last Paladin Spirit deserved to be used to its fullest extent. So...
Grey grinned down at his shoes.
"You’re staying with me, buddy. I’ll find as many rank up items as I need to make sure I’m stomping god faces with black Forces."