Grey woke up laughing like a maniac. He looked up at the ceiling above him—or rather, the torn roof of the tent—and just laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

That was the strongest attack he had. It was everything he could put forward, and yet he wasn’t even sure if he had penetrated skin back then. The backlash alone was strong enough that he had basically blown himself in half.

What the fuck was this? He was supposed to survive this?

BANG.

The cot shattered beneath Grey in a fiery inferno, but his magnetic fields and solar winds lifted him up to his feet before he could hit the dirtied ground.

He landed on his feet, his Shadow Forces emitting a large amount of black fog.

"Grey?" Mauve called out again. She did that every time he awoke with a start. But this time, his laughter had been the one to startle them.

Grey didn’t respond, stepping outside of the tent as though he couldn’t breathe within its walls. The dense fog around him only felt like it was suffocating him more.

He moved a hand through his hair, only to realize he was still bald right now. He cursed, sending pulsing waves of Holy Energy toward his head until his hair finally grew out again thick and proper.

’Fuck this.’

He took a handful of his hair, holding onto it tightly before he slowly managed to exhale a breath.

—

[Name: Grey Temolt]

[Named Affiliation: Disciple of Sir Trolley]

—

[Frame: Prometheus]

[Frame: Vampire Lord (Established Class)]

[Frame: Last Paladin (Established Class)]

[Frame: Dark Solveign (Established Class)]

[Pending Quests: 2]

—

Stamina: 711/711

Sync Rate: 0.32%

Energy Reserve: 12,100.1/12,100.1

—

Sync Rate: N/A

Energy Reserve: N/A

—

Sync Rate: N/A

Energy Reserve: N/A

—

Sync Rate: N/A

Energy Reserve: N/A

—

STR: 538 (+100%) SPD: 568 (+100%)

DEX: 520 (+100%) INT: 293

END: 588 (+100%) PER: 255

—

Harmonic Stats: N/A

Free Stat Points: 0

—

Abilities:

Body

Resistances: Lv15 Iron Veil; Lv15 Last Bulwark; Lv15 Solvmantle; Lv15 Dark Mantle

Combat: Lv15 Heart Lance; Lv15 Last Sever; Lv15 Solarbreak; Lv15 Shattered Eclipse

Enhancements: Lv15 Hemorrhagic Regeneration; Lv15 Last Vigil; Lv15 Stellar Drift; Lv15 Dark Stellar Drift

Mind

Resistances: Lv18 Mental Fortitude; Lv15 Abyssal Anchor; Lv15 Center of Balance; Lv15 Last Endurance; Lv15 Corona Veil; Lv15 Horizon Veil

Combat: Lv15 Void Gaze; Lv15 Last Coronation; Lv15 Solveign Storm; Lv15 Dark Storm

Enhancements: Lv15 Crimson Cognition; Lv15 Last Sword; Lv15 Last Paladin Spirit; Lv15 Helion Web; Lv15 Dark Web

—

All of his Abilities had improved to Level 15 across the board. But he still needed five more levels before he could even think about improving his Frames to the Proving Class.

The closest to Level 20 was Mental Fortitude, but that one wasn’t even tied to any of his Frames.

Grey had a feeling that the more powerful the Frame, the more powerful the Abilities tied to them, and the more difficult it was to improve them.

It somewhat made things even murkier that he had something like the fang set that would give his Vampire Lord Abilities +3 in Levels, or his Crimson Dragon Nexis Suit that gave them all a +2 from their current Level 15 standing.

However, the fang set was just a Proving Class Legendary item and he didn’t even know how much longer that effect would remain active.

The Crimson Dragon Nexis Suit had much more runway as both a Vector Class and Mythical Grade item, but he couldn’t rely on that forever either.

The worst part was that neither of these things actually helped him to get to Proving Class any faster.

The Dormaji had said its defense was only on par with the Syrn, but the difference was that the Syrn’s defense was built on the black light Null Veil Ability it had. That was something that Grey could comprehend and circumvent.

But the Dormaji’s defense was just the most straightforward, hard-shelled exterior sort. There was no tricking or comprehending his way around that.

It was either he or the weapon in his hand was strong enough to break through, or he just wouldn’t be able to do any damage. It was that simple.

The worst part was that unlike with other enemies he faced, the Dormaji’s hard shell wasn’t an external item, so there were no mechs to comprehend or glyphs to find weaknesses in.

’Dammit.’

Grey ground his teeth, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down again.

This wasn’t the worst part still. He wanted to hope it was the worst part, but he knew it wasn’t.

The true horror of it all was that they would just keep coming. He had been naive in hoping that his problem would stop at just one of them.

If there was another in the Dormaji, then there might be another after it, and then another after that.

He could barely beat one of them, and that was with Amunet’s help in distracting them for a bit. He couldn’t even lay a scratch on the second one. If there was a third, maybe he wouldn’t even lay eyes on it before a bolt of lightning smote him from above and wiped him from existence.

Grey had no idea just how true that might be just yet.

He moved his fingers through his hair again.

’What do I do?’

His stats were probably already well beyond what should be expected of an Established Class by now. What was most shocking was that whether it was the Dormaji or the Syrn, he didn’t believe that either were beyond the Vector Class either. They were just... better than he was.

He couldn’t quite confirm with the Dormaji, but after absorbing the Syrn’s blood, he was sure. It was only at the Vector Class.

This wasn’t a matter of them being far beyond him in Class, their foundations were just impossibly far beyond his own.

’Mechs.’

Grey clenched his teeth, looking at a line on his status screen.

—

Harmonic Stats: N/A

—

He raised the One Line Vessel and activated it again.