Second Genesis

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[Safe Room Unavailable.]

[Apologies, weary traveller. The Safe Room is currently under maintenance. Please return in {06:22:01}]

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Grey should have probably expected something like this. This was obviously what would happen when he pissed off the barkeep of the outpost.

The problem was how was he going to get back now? He needed the teleportation platform of an outpost to get back, and by the time, it was more than 12 hours between now and the moment this place would open up again.

"You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me."

Grey’s eyes flickered. He did have a One Line Vessel with several more uses, actually. With his skill now, he could probably make a makeshift platform just to launch it. But One Line Vessels weren’t truly teleportation so they took time.

Still, that would be faster than the 12 hours for sure, but it would still take a couple of hours he didn’t want to waste. He had literally left gnomes that could have been helpful to him writhing on the floor, half because he didn’t want to waste the time, and half because he was kind of worried about Thi Lan and Amunet who he had, ironically... also left writhing on the ground.

"Fuck, I’m a busy man, alright?"

Grey rubbed a hand through his hair.

He also was in severe need of some rest. His body had undergone too many evolutions. He had pushed himself to his genetic limit, fought a Dominion Class, and that was all after he literally fought a war all on his own against an alien invasion.

You could say that the nap that he had had after successfully fixing the teleportation platform back there was already all used up.

Grey hesitated.

If he went back now, he’d just be racing to get to the Holy City, and then he’d probably try and launch himself right at another challenge.

Even if he didn’t do that, he’d probably try and teleport to other outposts where the other listed candidates were and try to save them. Maybe he could get to Erik before Breejah sank her hairy little legs into him.

After all, Breejah should have to wait until Erik came to her, whereas Grey could get to Erik first. If Grey did that, he could poison the well against Breejah and avoid having to deal with the potential headache of a fellow human stabbing him in the back.

Grey took a breath.

Then he fell back into the soil and started to snore. He was out before he even hit the ground, and with his strength, he might as well have hit the softest pillows there were.

If the world was telling him to sleep... then fine. They’d probably regret it very soon.

Half the reason he made erratic decisions or ended up injured and making mistakes was because he was running on fumes. Maybe the other half was also because he was a loose cannon who refused to control his temper, but that was beside the point.

Grey’s snores filled the forest, and it was a sight that everyone still watching the main stream and his personal stream saw.

It was just a choice to sleep, the simple decision of a man who had run to the end of his rope and decided it was time to take a pause.

And yet, watching this moment in silence, it resonated in a different way to the audience.

They weren’t used to seeing a being from a Cracked World act so casually. Wasn’t he worried about the danger? What if someone attacked him? Didn’t he have enemies everywhere one could look? Hadn’t he quite literally just enraged one of the most powerful companies in the universe?

How many producers might be out for him? What about Muse Incorporated? What about the literal host of the Genesis Games himself?

And yet, there he was... sleeping...

The casual flare was something you would only see in the Higher Races. No, not just the Higher Races, the ones like the Monelay who were only one or two cycles away from becoming amongst the few Genesis Races there were.

The Lower Races had no choice but to scratch and claw for everything in the Genesis Games. Only 20% of their zones would survive the first Chapter of the second arc.

Even for the Higher Races, only 50% of them would survive the first Chapter of the second arc.

There were very few who were guaranteed to make it past when the true culling of the Genesis Games began.

To them, maybe the first arc was easy now... but they were gearing up and preparing to put their lives on the line. This was why many of their most powerful simply couldn’t divert their attention to Grey even if they wanted to.

Losing a step now meant losing a hundred when the second arc began.

The only ones who dared to be so casual, the only few who could take it easy...

Were simply known as the Betting Favorites.

They weren’t propped up by the Great Udon’s hype, or how handsome or pretty they were. They were propped up by the one thing that had made Earth go round and the one thing that made the universe do the same.

Money.

Only they could be so casual during the first arc. Only they could go into the second arc with confidence.

And only they would fall asleep in the middle of a forest with nothing but the stars to call their blanket and the earth to call their bed.

In that silent moment, something about the way Grey was viewed shifted and the boy that continued to win, the boy that ironically wore the headband of the Best Of, the boy without even a shirt and only a woman’s robes to protect his lower half’s decency...

Left a different sort of imprint in the hearts of the audience.

As his snore echoed, they began to wonder if this boy of a Cracked World would be more than just the entertainment of the first arc.

And at the same time, of the seven Betting Favorites chosen by the richest of the universe to make them even richer, four of them likewise took notice.

One of whom was an Elemental.