Ji didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t. But Grey wasn’t surprised by that. Instead, he just stared at him. The lack of an answer was answer enough when it came to Ji. It also didn’t help that Grey was kind of worrying about the same thing already. It was just that he was somewhat ignoring it.
Grey stared at him for a while and then exhaled a breath.
If he went to the Holy City and finished this—and that was a monstrous if, especially considering the fact the Empress had practically made Giyoto cry like a little bitch with the mere thought of her—then arc two would be ushered in soon after.
Breejah had said something about how they wanted to pick Erik instead of him because he was in the far safer starting position for the next arc. So this was already the second person implying to him that there was a great change coming once this arc came to an end.
And the second the first arc came to an end, every restriction holding these zones apart came down. The main problem for Grey would obviously be his enemies flooding in, but clearly there was more to it than just that.
He exhaled a breath and made a decision.
Thi Lan would be fine. He could feel that just standing near her now, the way her Neural Frame practically manifested itself around her despite the fact he was pretty sure she didn’t have a Resonant Frame told him that it was really starting to assert itself.
Dormaji and Syrn wouldn’t be able to touch her. Elementals maybe, if more than one came at once, but with the barrier standing, she probably wouldn’t have to lift a hand at all.
Everyone else, though... the other candidates in this empire he’d never met, they still needed his help.
His main reason for wanting to clear the arc so fast was to help break Thi Lan free because that would end her contract. But if she was fine, and if rushing put them in a worse position, then maybe it was smarter to prepare better first.
Gather more allies, strengthen themselves, then clear the arc.
That settled Grey’s thoughts on Erik.
Grey had seen the whole map now. He knew exactly where that handsome albino was. He was out past the empires with no city or community. Well, maybe there was a community, but it wasn’t structured in the same way.
The good news was that a candidate that far along had almost certainly put down a region boss, and a dead region boss meant an outpost had woken up out there.
The bad news was the Genesis System. What else was new?
It was a bitch and absolutely a bitch without the common decency to at least be a real looker. But it was fair for the most part—except for when it was being sexist.
It never took something away without handing you something back, and it never handed you something without taking. Erik had no city, no gnomes, no resources, no army of Holy Knights to stand in formation or to take a master from, and was probably surrounded by danger everywhere. That meant Erik had advantages Grey couldn’t see from here.
At the same time, Breejah had vanished from that middle-tier outpost the moment Grey turned his back on her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where she had gone.
Grey’s jaw tightened.
She’d gone to Erik. Erik may very well not be the fallback. In truth, if what Breejah said was true, Erik had been their first choice from the beginning. It was just that Grey had performed too well for them to ignore.
Then, if he wasn’t going to clear arc one for Thi Lan, should he try and get to Erik first?
’If I went now...’
He could teleport to get out into the snowfield at the ass end of the world and land at the only outpost for a thousand kilometres... and then what?
Enter it and find standing behind the counter Breejah? He’d be all but trapped there at that point, not because Breejah could actually harm him, but probably because she had methods the octopus man wouldn’t. There was no way she’d let him have the chance of modifying the teleportation platform to get back.
Grey couldn’t risk being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no easy way back.
Muse Incorporated had found a way to reach into the Genesis Games and hand out death slave contracts. If they could do that, they could give Breejah something that made the animation trick stop working... especially since they would be ready for it this time.
At this point, everything Grey did was being scrutinized. They had likely already seen what he did with the octopus dude. Of course they would be prepared.
He couldn’t risk going to get Erik now, not until he had a method of drawing his own large scale teleportation arrays.
Grey’s eyes narrowed. Then he turned and looked at Amunet.
He flipped his palm and the One Line Vessel bracelet he got from Elowen appeared in it.
"Take this."
Amunet’s shadows shifted as she caught it.
"I need you to go to the other zones," Grey said. "Gather the other two. I’ll deal with Erik myself eventually, but I’m going to return to the Holy City and check on Brad and Mauve. I’m sure your pretty voice will help you out."
There was a pause as Amunet hesitated. There was an odd fluctuation in her Neural Frame and Grey seemed to hear her exhale.
He raised an eyebrow, the hell was she exhaling about?
"Then I’ll be as quick as I can." The shadows over her face tilted.
Grey blinked. He expected a very different response, but he guessed that worked too.
Grey wasn’t still trying to figure it out, so he didn’t notice the amused flicker in Thi Lan’s eyes.
"Be safe," Grey said.
Amunet stopped in the doorway.
"Are you worried about me?"
"Obviously." Grey grinned. "I need you to sexually harass me again."
The rapier came out and stabbed for his gut. Grey stepped off the line of it and it went past his hip close enough to part the flowers on his stolen skirt.
"Can’t you just say something nice for once?"
"Didn’t I?" Grey pretended to blink in genuine confusion.
She didn’t reply and was gone into the teleportation room before he could get anything else out.
Grey turned back to Thi Lan and gave her a lazy salute.
"Hold the wall, princess. Don’t let anybody in and don’t go chasing anything with tentacles. That’s my thing."
Thi Lan’s mouth twitched despite herself. "Just leave, Grey. I’m not young enough to get all doughy eyed. Save it for somebody else."
Grey raised an eyebrow. It seemed she truly wasn’t happy with him, but he shrugged.
That happened all the time. Some people liked him, some people didn’t. He never really lost sleep over it. There were plenty of hot women in the world.
"Cool," Grey said. "Good luck."
Then he stepped onto the pad and let the light take him back toward the Holy City.
Thi Lan stood, blinking for a moment. For some reason, she didn’t expect that sort of response either. Honestly, she wasn’t sure what response she was expecting.
She frowned, feeling uncomfortable for some reason.
...
Grey came out of the teleportation platform mid-stretch with his arms over his head and a yawn already halfway out of his mouth.
He stopped, looking around with a bit of a twitch in his lips.
He was completely surrounded.