Grey’s good mood became tinged by a bit of annoyance, especially as he began to consider what might have been taken from Calixan’s body as well. However, he chose not to jump to conclusions. At the end of the day, these people had helped him.
Though, by the same token, he had helped them greatly as well. Whatever it was Calixan was doing or sent here to do was definitely not good.
’I wonder if Giyoto would be so grateful he’d give me all his wealth?’
Truthfully, Grey knew he couldn’t use that spear to its full potential. Even that final attack he used that took everything out of him had just barely hit the threshold of full usage.
The Last Paladin had a different rhythm from Holy Knights and normal Paladins. The latter two had their rhythms built on defense and guardianship. That made sense considering that was what Holy Knights and Paladins were, they were the guards of the priests and the church. They existed to be the shield against evil so that the dainty nuns and uppity priests didn’t get their robes dirty.
However, the Last Paladin embodied the last line of defense. They were the point where defense, ironically, became worthless. There was nothing left to defend any longer.
They were the Last.
This was why Grey thought about the Goblin, about Esmeralda, about Globb. Each and every one of them was the last of their race, a representation of the grit that was needed to understand the rhythm of the Last.
Grey hadn’t noticed it until that moment in the battle, but every battle he had fought until now seemed to echo those sentiments in his thoughts until it was ingrained into his very soul even if it wasn’t his own experience.
DING
Grey blinked. Before he could ask the girl whose palms were practically hollowing out her eye sockets even now who happened to the spear or who he could talk to about its whereabouts, he received a notification.
—
[You have received a sponsorship request]
—
[You have received a sponsorship request]
—
[You have received a sponsorship request]
—
Grey’s notifications were flooding, and it only seemed to be getting faster. Every time he tried to read one, it was instantly replaced with another, and then another.
—
[You have reached a threshold of {3} Sponsorship requests. Sponsor System is being initiated]
—
[You have reached a threshold of {10} Sponsorship requests. Sponsor System is being upgraded]
—
[You have reached a threshold of {100} Sponsorship requests. Sponsor System is being upgraded]
—
[You have reached a threshold of {1000} Sponsorship requests. Sponsor System is being upgraded]
—
Grey’s lip twitched. "Can we relax?"
"You flashed me! You pervert! I will not relax!" the young woman was instantly pissed off, so much so that she took her hands from her face, forgetting that Grey might still be naked. Luckily before she could panic, it became obvious that he wasn’t anymore, and then she entered a tirade that Grey directly ignored.
’How many damn sponsorship requests can a man get at the same time? What is this bullshit?’
The moment Grey had the thought, the Sponsorship System Window popped up and initially, he saw things divided into two tiers.
The first two tabs were "Accepted Sponsors" and "Pending Sponsors". There wasn’t even a third slot for rejected ones.
But then things shifted again and two more tabs appeared, one with "Negotiations Pending" and the other for "Rejected Offers".
Then, there was an option for organizing by type and kind, not to mention organizing by bid number.
Finally, a tab opened that left Grey’s eyes narrowed. That was because it was labeled "Upgrade Options". And when he clicked into it out of curiosity, there were a whole bunch of greyed out options.
Near the very top of the list, and the most expensive option there was...
"Guest Appearance".
—
[Guest Appearance [click for more information]]
—
[The personalities of contestants are too often tiered and measured out through small slits of time formed into bite-sized clips farmed by producers. A chance to take hold of your own narrative is claimed through one’s own chat and live-stream, but those that can afford it are few and far between, often carrying with them their own agendas.
With this upgrade, a sponsor can sponsor a Genesis Candidate’s guest appearance on a given television show. Depending on the money spent by said sponsor, even gaining direct overseeing of the final edit is not impossible]
—
Grey’s eyes couldn’t help but glow. Now this, this was huge, and there was no way he could give up this chance. But right now, it was still greyed out.
Plus, after what he had seen from the first recap episode...
Grey wasn’t an idiot. If he had to guess, these sponsors that were currently flooding him with options were probably the bottom feeders. They knew that they didn’t have a chance with the real big dogs, so they thought they could flash some money at him and get him to bite instead.
Even if he died relatively quickly, it wouldn’t be a huge hit to their reputations because they were on the weaker side anyway. For them, any publicity was good publicity at this stage.
That was to say that if Grey had to guess, there probably wasn’t a single sponsor in his mentions right now that had the capital to get him on one of those shows. And, from what he could tell from this fine print here...
—
[*Option only available to sponsors greenlit by the Hosts of the 3021st season of the Genesis Games]
—
... He was definitely correct.
Whatever that list of approved sponsors was, it was small, definitely exclusive, and had reputations too worth protecting to take a shot on someone like Grey right now.
’For now. Just you fucking wait.’
Grey’s eyes flowed with a deep menace when his gaze was finally attracted by something else.
—
[You are the 17533rd Genesis Candidate to complete Chapter One of the First Arc. You have been granted a Piece of Divinity]