Grey’s gaze flickered.

Barkeep Ji.

Ever since Barkeep Ji had been replaced by that sexy spider lady, Grey hadn’t gone back. But honestly, now that Grey thought about it, the fact that some company or whatever it was had managed to send someone in to make a personal pitch to him...

Well, Grey wouldn’t know if he would really call that a pitch. The spider lady had been so restricted by the Genesis System that there was very little she could say.

But... what were the odds that Barkeep Ji would appear here?

Rather than replying to the frog man, Grey looked at Thi Lan.

"Has he always been your barkeep here?"

Thi Lan blinked. "Yes? Do you know him? How’s that possible?"

Grey’s frown deepened. Was Barkeep Ji just one NPC that oversaw every outpost? That didn’t really make sense.

There must have been hundreds of thousands of such outposts. Unless he wasn’t real?

But... Barkeep Ji felt like a very real person.

Then again, didn’t everyone here seem to be? And as far as Grey understood, everyone he interacted with that wasn’t from Earth or an alien world was also crafted by the Genesis System.

Grey hummed and then looked back at Barkeep Ji who was smiling at him.

"What’s going on?" Grey asked, trying the straightforward approach. He usually preferred that anyway.

But Barkeep Ji just continued smiling.

However, the moment the doors closed behind them, there was a quake and Barkeep Ji exhaled.

"Ah..." the frog man sighed a bit as though he was speaking out in relief.

Grey’s gaze flickered. He recognized this slight shift. This was what happened the last time the outpost was cut off from the sight of the Producers.

He checked his chat, and as expected, most of everything had gone grey.

"It seems that you’ve gotten yourself into quite some trouble." Barkeep Ji said with a chuckle.

"Trouble? Do I look like I’m in trouble? I’m about to go and kick some ass." Grey said with a grin.

Barkeep Ji chuckled, and then licked his wide flat lips like he wanted to take a bite out of Grey. He had grown so much since the last time he had seen him, it was truly fascinating.

"It’s nice to see you still have a little bit of spunk left. I hope that lasts."

"It’s the one thing you can count on lasting."

"Good. Well, have a seat, everyone. What would you like from me today?"

Grey was the first to take a seat, and he pretty much understood the drill. Barkeep Ji wanted to help, but his restraints disallowed him from being too direct.

But Grey still felt odd that he would appear like this. There was definitely some greater secret here, but he knew from experience that Barkeep Ji wasn’t just going to spill it.

Thi Lan gingerly took a seat with Amunet’s help, her face covered in confusion. As for Amunet, she wasn’t sure what was going on either, so she just let things continue.

As for Nebb and the others, they were completely frozen in place as though the systems that ran them couldn’t continue.

Seeing them like this, Grey couldn’t help but wonder if, with how sure they were that he was the NPC and they were real... if his own body ever ended up frozen like that.

Grey shook his head and turned back to Barkeep Ji, slapping his palms down lightly on the bar.

"I need a large scale teleportation station, one that can get me to any empire quickly and efficiently. I think I can find it in the fake Goddess Empress’ palace, is that true?"

Barkeep Ji just continued to smile.

"Fuck, you’re useless."

Barkeep Ji chuckled. "Questions directly related to Chapters and arcs cannot be answered."

Grey’s pupils constricted. That was about as close to a yes as he was going to get.

He rubbed his head. That was good. If he could defeat the Goddess, then he should be able to get to the others quickly enough that there was still a small chance they’d survive.

The real problem was... how would he get back? Would he have to defeat the Goddesses of those Empires as well and take their spatial formations too?

"What happened to the above-Mythic we once spoke about?"

Grey’s gaze sharpened as he looked at Barkeep Ji.

He remembered that. He had given it to Giyoto along with the armor it was meant to fix.

The Mech Soul.

Grey didn’t actually know what grade it was. All he knew was that the Genesis System couldn’t scan it, and Barkeep Ji had told him that that was because it was above Mythic.

But he did know its abilities.

Why was Barkeep Ji mentioning this now?

In truth, Grey had kind of forgotten about it. Too many things happened that he had also kind of forgotten about Giyoto himself for that matter.

Even if he had kept the Mech Soul, he had nothing he could use it on, and no one would have given him equivalent value for selling it. It was too precious.

Maybe only the Guardians, Dukes, and Empress herself might have treasures nearly as valuable from what he had seen, and he wasn’t exactly on the best terms with any of them.

Plus... from what Grey had learned about the fall of the Giyoto Empire, they might have reason to kill him for having it. And since it was too powerful to store in his inventory, it probably saved him quite a bit of trouble not having it on his person.

The last issue with it that even Grey’s Frame couldn’t withstand the armor it would have fixed. He would have crumbled beneath the weight.

It just wasn’t worth keeping.

But Barkeep Ji had just...

Grey’s eyes widened. Was the Mech Soul related to the conclusion of the arc and Chapters? Was that why he just mentioned that, and then went on to talk about this?

Grey slapped palms down on the bar again. "Fuck!"