Chapter 585: Nothing to Say

Grey didn’t really care about the notifications at first, because to him they were a lot simpler than the Genesis System was making them look. The victory notification meant the Goddess was dead, which was great, and the Arc should end the moment he allowed the Mech Soul to properly fuse into the formation beneath Melix.

Without that woman sitting at the center of everything, there was nothing left between Grey and the finish line except half a Palace worth of rubble.

The Duke reward meant even less to him. As far as Grey was concerned, completing the old Holy Knight’s quest only meant that he had made good on a promise and that the bastard could finally rest easy wherever old quest-giving ghosts went after their problems were solved.

What did becoming a Duke even mean at this point when Grey had personally killed half the people who would have been responsible for recognizing the title in the first place?

Was there even an Empire left to speak of? What use was a Duke without royalty?

Grey was still considering how completely useless the reward seemed when another notification appeared in front of him.

—

[Title Confirmed: Duke of the Melix Territory]

—

Grey raised an eyebrow.

—

[Authority Recognized]

[You have successfully inherited a portion of the Fate belonging to the Melix Territory]

—

His expression changed slightly.

"Okay..."

That sounded like it might actually matter.

Another notification immediately followed before Grey had time to think about what having a portion of a Territory’s Fate meant.

—

[Territorial Warning]

[The current Representation of the Melix Territory has fallen]

[The Territory has entered a Fragile State]

—

Grey’s brows furrowed as the notifications continued stacking.

—

[Representation Required]

[A new Representative must be selected within 3 days]

[Failure to establish a Representative will result in the loss of Territorial Protection]

—

Grey stared at the words for several seconds.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

He had no idea what Territorial Protection was, but considering practically every notification the Genesis System gave him eventually translated into someone trying to kill him, it was probably important.

Still, Grey dismissed the immediate concern after a moment, because if becoming the Territory’s Representative came down to strength, there wasn’t exactly a long list of people in Melix lining up who could stop him from taking the position.

If anything, this might make things easier.

Then the next notification appeared.

Grey’s lip twitched.

—

[Quest Received]

—

—

Quest: Crown of Melix

Quest Rank: Legendary

Quest Class: Dominion

Mission Type: Ascension

Description: The Representation of the Melix Territory has fallen, leaving its Fate without a recognized Monarch. To inherit the authority of the Territory and stand as its new Representation, establish your legitimacy before the surrounding powers or elevate the Territory beyond the need for their recognition.

Objectives:

Option One: Receive unanimous acknowledgement from every recognized Emperor and Empress within the Alliance Territories.

OR

Option Two: Elevate the Melix Territory to Ascendant Grade.

Reward: Full Authority over the Melix Territorial Formation.

—

Grey stared at the first option long enough that his eye started twitching.

"Yeah, that’s not fucking happening."

He had just finished kicking every single one of those people out of the Culling after stealing practically all the Holy Energy for Melix. Even if they somehow forgot that little detail, Grey was reasonably certain the sight of him personally beating the shit out of the Goddess they had allied themselves with wasn’t going to improve his approval rating.

Luckily, there was a second option.

Grey read it again... Ascendant Grade.

He had absolutely no clue what that meant.

Still, an option he didn’t understand was infinitely better than an option that required every Emperor and Empress Grey had recently pissed off to hold hands and unanimously agree that he deserved more power.

The reward was interesting too.

Full control over the formation beneath Melix wasn’t just some ceremonial ruler bullshit. That formation stretched beneath the entire city and seemed capable of reinforcing structures, manipulating Holy Energy, maintaining protections, and almost certainly doing a hell of a lot more Grey hadn’t uncovered yet.

If he could take complete control of it, then suddenly the ridiculous distances separating the human populations didn’t seem quite as troublesome.

Grey’s eyes slowly narrowed as the idea grew.

If he could modify the formation the same way he had modified teleportation platforms before, there was a chance he could build some enormous teleportation network through it.

Instead of every scattered group from Earth being stranded wherever the Genesis Games had thrown them, Grey might be able to start bringing people directly into Melix, and for the first time since this entire nightmare began, humanity would actually have something resembling a capital they could defend.

The more Grey thought about it, the less willing he was to ignore the quest.

He looked down toward the Infernal Temper Band and shook his wrist.

"Hey, old timer, do you know what an Ascendant Grade Territory is?"

"An Ascendant Grade Territory is one with an Ascendant Grade Monarch at its helm."

Grey blinked because the voice hadn’t come from Veyrath at all. The angel lady had spoken.

"Oh?" Grey looked toward The Virtueless. "So you’re talking again now."

"What you did was reckless."

Grey’s expression flattened.

"Hey, lady, you got me killed twice just to prove a stupid point I already understood the first time. Don’t talk to me about recklessness."

The angel lady fell silent.

Grey was still kind of pissed about that.

"Are you not going to explain what happened back there?" he asked after a moment. "Because the last time I checked, random naked Goddess ladies don’t usually start throwing corrupted Light around and waking up inside giant cocoons. And also, I’m pretty sure that talking halo was you, wasn’t it?"

"It is dangerous to speak about certain things too openly," she replied after a long pause. "Especially here."

Grey frowned.

"That’s incredibly fucking vague."

"It is also all I can safely say."

Grey wasn’t a fan of that answer, but exhaustion was beginning to hit him hard enough that he couldn’t even summon the energy to keep arguing properly. His body drifted downward toward the broken streets below, and by the time his feet touched the ground, waves of fatigue were rolling through him so heavily that every muscle felt several times heavier than it should.

He really, really needed sleep.

Grey had barely taken a step when something slammed into him.

His exhausted body toppled backward before he could properly react, and for a moment all he registered was amber hair, warmth, and the familiar scent of Elowen.

Then her lips pressed against his.

Grey’s eyes widened.

For once, he had absolutely nothing to say.