The first thing Grey looked at wasn’t blueprints or raw materials. Instead, the first thing he looked at were Spirits.
For a long while now, he had had the fang necklace hanging around his neck, and he kept meaning to find a vessel for it, but he never had.
Logically, an animal Spirit was actually quite compatible with the Mechanical Jaw Lineage. But the Mechanical Jaw Lineage happened to be the only mechs Grey had convenient access to that were worth putting Prometheus in.
There was no doubt that even beyond just the whole looping life thing, Prometheus had been a great help to Grey.
There was a moment in his battle with the Syrn where Grey felt like the pulsing of the Prometheus Spirit was helping him mimic the aspects of the alien more and actually helping him to control the black light with greater efficiency.
That must have been just a little dose of what Prometheus had meant when it told him that the secret to closing the gap on using Frames that weren’t meant for his Race were mechs.
Meaning... Prometheus was that gap closer.
All of this sounded well and nice, but everything seemed like extra reason why Grey should be looking for specific blueprints and raw materials to use, not Spirits.
The reason why Grey was looking at other Spirits, though, was because Prometheus could only be in one mech at a given time, and it was impossible for a mech to possibly reflect every one of his Frames at the same time.
At the very least, Grey knew for sure he didn’t have the skill to craft such a thing right now.
However... his comprehension of the Syrn made him realize something.
They weren’t the most compatible with his Dark Solveign Frame, but they were far more compatible than he was himself.
’Part of the reason the Helm of Grace became so much better after combining into the Helm Frame is because of Prometheus. That ability to flicker into the future and past by a few seconds at a time is definitely increased by it.
’The Helm of Grace is too important to me right now to transfer Prometheus to another mech. But, if I can find the right Spirit...’
Grey came to a stop, his gaze flickering as it looked at what was almost a black blob of tentacles. It radiated a darkness so deep it swallowed any of the light that even remotely came close to it.
—
Name: Star Swallower
Rarity: Epic
Class: Vector
Accepted Class: N/A
Rejected Class: N/A
Description: The Spirit of a fallen Star Swallower, a creature of untold horror. It is said that at maturity wherever the Star Swallowers should rest would become a land without light.
Abilities: N/A
Price: 17,777,777 Credits
—
’Hm...’ Grey’s eyes narrowed. ’Maybe that could work...’
Grey was going purely off feel. He was matching the fluctuations and resonances that Prometheus had been giving off to what he could somewhat feel coming from the Spirits he came across.
From what he could tell, this Star Swallower was the closest fit.
Once he had that pinned down, then he could continue forward. Grey felt that it was easier to bend a blueprint toward the aspects of a Spirit than it was to do the opposite.
A Spirit was what gave a mech life, the bridge that allowed otherwise dead components to integrate with something as important as your Neural Frame.
A blueprint could be tweaked and changed, but unless you were a literal god, there was no doing that to a Spirit.
’No, this will definitely work.’ Grey reconfirmed after more thought.
But he wasn’t done yet. His eyes continued to scan, but then he came to a stop.
Why was he wasting time looking for another Spirit that could match his Vampire Lord Frame when he already had exactly what he wanted hanging from his neck?
’Idiot. Let’s lock in.’
Dying so many times must have fried his brains. He would go with this Star Swallower for now. Though, the name was quite grandiose for what was ultimately such a weak item in rarity.
That was fine by him. If it was a Mythic Grade Spirit, even the complete Helm Frame blueprint wouldn’t be enough to buy it. He’d take the cool name and weak results.
It was just as Barkeep Ji had said. Buying items beyond Epic in anything but an auction was basically impossible, and he didn’t have the time to wait around for an auction.
Grey flipped back and started going through the blueprints.
"This could work. This could work. This could work, too. Mhm, this one too. And this one. And this one."
There were a shocking number of blueprints, but just as Grey expected, he found several blueprints he could tell by feel alone could be arm-barred into working the way he wanted them to.
The problem was there were almost too many options, so many it was hard to decide which ones to pick.
The worst part was that unlike his 100% Synergistic Accuracy, most he saw here were only around 30%. The true intentions of the original creator were lost in the wind.
’Maybe... that could actually help...’
The blueprints were still expensive, but because of the low SA-index, they weren’t as insanely expensive as one might have thought. Honestly, even the Star Swallower was less expensive than Grey thought it would be. He was already thinking on the order of nine figures.
’In that case, I’ll Frankenstein something.’
If others knew what Grey was thinking, the aneurysm that ensued would likely be the last of their worries.
However, Grey wasn’t worried about any of that. He needed a quick solution, but he had no experience building a blueprint from scratch. So, he needed references.
And these would be his references.
Not just for a single mech, but two of them.
It was time to find Star Swallower and the Wolf Spirit a home.
"I want all of these. If I’m asking for too much, let me know. I have more to exchange."
Grey looked up at Elowen with a serious glow in his eyes.
"And I want a private room I can craft in."