[Bonus Chapter thanks to Castle from VokayroK <3]
Grey realized something when he was fighting the alien races. As powerful as they were, it wasn’t because they had some lofty, great Class. In fact, Grey was pretty sure that if he met a true Vanguard Class alien from one of those higher Races, he would not only struggle under them, but he might very well die.
Grey hadn’t been able to sense the Class level of the aliens that came, and he could only make guesses. But the more he learned, the sharper he became, and the greater his senses grew, the more he slowly came to a sudden realization...
Maybe he couldn’t sense their Class level because they didn’t have one.
It was a mind bending thought to have, that the enemies he had risked life and limb, not to mention several loops just to defeat, were not only some of the weakest of their Races, but also hadn’t even advanced beyond the Proving Class either.
But this made sense.
So much of the Genesis Games in the first place was opportunity for growth and improvement. There were so many chances here for unique Frames and powerful inheritances. Grey didn’t believe that the alien races could snub their noses at them all.
The Dark Kin, the Savage Races, heck, the War Heads especially who still existed in the modern universe today, were clear examples of this.
It was precisely because they were the weakest of their races that they also didn’t have a true Class to speak of.
When you spawned in a region, you had to compete with those around you for those very same inheritances. If you were the bottom of the pile, how would you get them?
Grey was the number one Ranker of his zone, so it made sense he was monopolizing so many good things. But how was the hundredth Ranker of his zone doing? What about the two hundredth? The thousandth?
Even Mauve and Brad who were in the top three themselves were just picking up scraps, let alone everyone else.
Granted, that was also because Grey was a real anomaly. But the point still stood.
This was all to say that if Brad and Mauve wanted a chance at protecting themselves... no, if all of them wanted a chance at protecting themselves, they had to increase the baseline of their talent substantially.
And the only way to do that was by suffering.
Call of the Silver Moon could, theoretically, improve their Stamina and physical stats by a perfect +1000. Ignoring boosts, if Mauve and Brad could pull that off right now, they would have a base strength stronger than even Grey.
Brad and Mauve’s jaws clenched, and they both gripped their fists, looking at Grey with true earnestness.
Grey didn’t say anything, but he knew they understood that their suffering would probably be even worse than his own just to keep up. Like he had said, they didn’t have any bloodlines at all right now.
But the determination in their eyes was exactly why Grey had chosen to bring them along instead of just Amunet.
Well, he was also kind of lonely. Grey had always been a very social creature, and the isolation in this world was just killing him. Ironically enough, that made him more willing to forgive Brad and Mauve for trying to kill him so many times.
It wasn’t like they had been his friends in the past like Amunet had been, so he didn’t feel the same hurt.
But Grey also wasn’t stupid. People who could admit their wrongs were invaluable. These two could have easily chosen to be like Stella who was still stuck and set in her own ways, but they hadn’t been.
At the same time, Grey had seen them fight. They were weak, but whether it was the loops he had personally killed them in, or the times he had watched them fight to help themselves, they never cowered even in the face of great strength.
Brad especially became furious every time his companions were hurt. Grey had almost felt bad for killing him so many times.
And Mauve...
Grey had only seen her break down when she felt her death was inevitable. And he had seen the fire light her eyes when she had managed to survive.
That was the look of a woman who refused to be put in that situation again.
Grey’s intuition had always led him in life. He had casually given a woman he didn’t know such an important leadership position in Zone 234, he had personally picked Brad and Mauve to follow him despite their weakness, and now...
He was going to take it a step further.
"How?" Brad couldn’t help but ask.
Grey chuckled. "With mechs, of course. If your bodies can’t support drinking and digesting blood, we’ll just have to find another way, now won’t we."
"Is this... really okay?" Mauve asked hesitantly, looking toward Amunet’s weak form. As much as she wanted this, the idea of actually using Amunet like a portable blood bank felt wrong.
"I’m fine." Amunet said, her voice feeling stronger. "If this is what it takes, let’s do it."
She pushed herself up and eventually managed to sit on the couch normally, her face just a little bit more pale.
"The question is, are your mechs really that good? Or are you just talking a big game? It can cause serious problems if the mechs cripple or destroy their Frames."
Amunet sounded skeptical, and maybe she was right to be. They hadn’t been in this world for long, when the hell would Grey—who was born and raised on Earth—have the time to learn even the basics, let alone enough to do something so complicated?
She was right. Even if one accounted for the additional time Grey had with his loops, it still didn’t make any sense for him to get so good, so fast.
But Grey only grinned. "Because I’m a fucking genius, of course. Now..."
Grey took out the silver grill he had gotten while reclaiming the Mechanical Jaw Spirit. He knew exactly what starting place he needed for this mech, and he had such a convenient form factor right here for him.
"... Let’s start, shall we?"