Grey gasped for air, but choked on his own vomit instead. He hacked and wheezed, the acid and bits of metal sliding down the wrong pipe.
His mind blurred and the pain threatened to make him pass out again.
By the time he finally regained his bearings, he found that he was back in the cabin, Esmeralda once more standing right over him. Her features almost curled, what was left of the beautiful half of her face looked like it was completely marred by darkness.
It wasn’t a trick of the light. Grey was almost 100% certain that the scarred half of her face was layered in death and decay, looking far more dark violet now than it had before.
’... I’m alive?’
Grey was confused.
The last thing he remembered was ripping himself to pieces. He tried to repeat what he had with the Last Goblin Swordsman, but that had been a battle between two people who weren’t of the Proving Class just yet. Grey could withstand such a thing back then—though it had cost him his life.
His Neural Frame to Esmeralda’s was like an ant to an elephant’s stomp. There was no comparison at all. She wouldn’t even notice snuffing him out.
But that was why it was so baffling he was here at all.
His energy reserve had definitely been at 0. He couldn’t even eat metals, let alone rebirth himself.
—
Energy Reserve: 0.0/10.1
—
’Huh...?’
Grey was even more confused when he saw this. If he had returned, shouldn’t his Energy Reserve be at 0.1 now? That was what it had cost him to eat the metal from before. And since he was vomiting, it meant that he had just finished eating the Tempered Steel once again.
Logically, his Energy Reserve should be at 0.1, not 0.0. Something wasn’t adding up.
’Did Prometheus give me a freebie?’
Obviously, Prometheus didn’t absolutely need energy to send him back in time. Before Grey had even gotten the pinky ring, he had been experiencing rebirths.
He didn’t really know how that was possible, but the tutorial introduction told him that he needed 10 units to be reborn, so he had stuck to that. He had been completely convinced that he was completely done this time.
So why was he alive?
’Does it have something to do with me touching her Neural Frame? Did I steal some energy from her?’
It was the only explanation Grey could think of. He had been a bit too focused on being as sadistic as possible to see if there were any changes to his Energy Reserves at the end. But...
’There’s too much I don’t know about Prometheus. How the hell am I supposed to learn these things if it doesn’t tell me?’
Grey felt some frustration bubbling up, but he exhaled. Ultimately, he should be happy he was alive. He would figure out how that was later.
First, he needed to get his hands on the Cyber Core so he didn’t need to do that again. But given the even more offensive stance Esmeralda was taking, it was like her patience was even less than ever before.
She looked like if he even gazed at her the wrong way, she would rip him to shreds.
During the last loop, she stopped him before he could even reach for the Cyber Core. He bet that if he tried the same thing this time, she might just directly kill him.
’I need to be above reproach.’
Grey didn’t have the time or mental space to figure out why it felt like Esmeralda was going through these loops with him. He could feel it clearly enough due to the pair of pink panties hanging from his waist.
She was practically seething with murderous intent.
"Sorry for the delay," Grey said, pushing down the bile that threatened to bubble up from his throat from the polite talk. "I’ll get started right away."
There was a flicker of surprise in Esmeralda’s gaze for a moment before it went back to dark. But Grey quickly took the opportunity to walk to the table and push the useless blueprints to the side, neatly stacking the good ones that were too powerful in a separate pile.
He made certain to avoid the pile of resources entirely until after he had done this, hoping it would buy him some more breathing room.
He was right to do exactly that.
Esmeralda’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything this time as Grey reached for the resources.
Grey organized everything properly and set them on top of the Cyber Map. It was only then he dared to hold onto the Cyber Core for anything more than a few seconds at a time. But from an outsider’s perspective, it looked like he was just getting ready to complete the first Form stage.
That was precisely what Grey was going to do, not daring to take any chances. But then he recalled the screen he had seen inside of his Cyber Space.
’Have to take the chance.’
If he tried again, the ending would be the same. His Neural Frame would overload and then he’d die when Esmeralda lost any semblance of patience. However...
—
Ball Bearing Eye
Complete Diagnostic: 10 Energy Units
Complete Form: 50 Energy Units
Complete Load: 200 Energy Units
Complete Intent: 2000 Energy Units
—
’I guess we’re going to find out what a "diagnostic" is. Don’t stab me through the heart from the back again witch, or I swear I’m haunting you from the grave.’
Grey closed his eyes and communicated with the Cyber Core, hoping that his Cyber Core would let him pay without it going to his mech first.
Luckily it did, mitigating his risk of pissing the wicked witch off.
—
Diagnostic Complete.
—
A flood of information poured into Grey’s mind, his eyes glazing over. Like a circuit completing in his mind, the strengths and weaknesses of Ball Bearing Eye opened wide before him.
It was like its very Form was being burned into his mind.
—
Ball Bearing Eye
Points of Error: 31
Modification Cost: 50,000 Energy Units
—
’Points of error?’
Grey shook his head. He would never be able to afford any of that, and why would he care about...
’... Errors?’
Grey’s eyes began to glow a fiercer crimson, a plan forming in his mind as his understanding solidified.
His gaze refocused in the outside world and before Esmeralda could say anything, the raw materials collapsed into their motes of light, floating in a series of complex geometric shapes and Faces.