The Holy Empire’s bloodline was the highest Paladin bloodline that Grey had ever come across. They had a complete monopoly on it, and the only other Paladins that existed even in close, loyal proximity to them came from those with twisted paths they had to trudge forward through on their own.

This seemed fine on the surface. But the more Grey thought about it, the more he had a singular thought...

Was this on purpose?

Prometheus had told him that the weakness of his Paladin Frame was his bloodline. It was the only thing holding him back from having what should, by all rights, be by far his strongest Frame right now.

He had covered a lot of that weakness thanks to taking from Elowen and Zara. But it still felt somewhat... incomplete.

However, all Prometheus had told him was that the Frame was perfect for humans. It hadn’t said that there was a higher tier of human, or some special, godlike human that stood beyond the others.

It had just said... human.

What if the reason for the supposed Goddess Empress’ actions wasn’t that she was secretly some Dark Kin, or secretly looking to betray her cause, but instead the very same thing that corrupted everyone...

Power.

She wanted to monopolize this strength for herself, a strength she knew originated from the Goblin Race, and yet refused to acknowledge.

In fact, in her Empire, the Savage Races were dealt with like second class citizens. Terran, who had been born in the Holy City, was the worst offender Grey had ever seen. It was like he would look for any reason to kill a member of the Savage Races. So long as they even so much as looked at him funny, he would draw his blade and cut.

But what was more interesting than even all of that...

Was the fact that Grey had seen two gnomes now. He had even seen a witch.

But he hadn’t laid eyes on not a single goblin since the tutorial.

Grey put a hand to his belly and realized exactly where this gut feeling he had had was coming from.

The answer was right in front of his face. It had already been right in front of his face.

A ruler couldn’t be blamed for everything wrong with their empire. Sometimes it just stretched too far or there were certain things they just couldn’t see.

But the hatred of the Savage Races was ingrained in the very fiber of being of the cities of the Holy Empire. And that sort of top-down hatred...

Could only come from the top.

Finally, Grey exhaled a breath. The last of the complex web of mysteries was detangled and his body felt light, his eyes felt full of fire.

After rearranging his entire list of priorities he knew exactly what he had to do.

He had to find Giyoto.

And if he was correct, Giyoto was probably the key to clearing Chapter two.

Which meant that...

’Giyoto isn’t in Zone 234 anymore. He’s gone somewhere else now that Calixan is dead. He is probably in one of the mid-tier cities. And if I had to pick one...’

Grey’s gaze flickered and then he landed.

’There.’

He didn’t pick at random. His eyes were layered with the pattern of the armor.

Zone 234 was the starting point. That was where the Mech Soul had originally rested because it was the safest point for it. It was the point under the least pressure.

However, in order to reactivate the Mech Soul properly, there were probably more steps to fulfill.

From Grey’s perspective, those steps involved probably clearing up some nodes that the Old Ones had infested.

Unlike Giyoto and Globb, the Old Ones probably knew exactly what they were doing. There was a reason they were spreading out underground.

Grey had inadvertently cleared one of those nodes already, which meant that there was only one other of concern.

The question was... if Giyoto didn’t know that the key to everything was underground, why would he move cities?

Probably for the same reason he had scoped out the underground of Zone 234 in the first place.

Giyoto was probably working with half the story. He likely knew that there was an underground system of some sort, but he likely believed some of what he needed was related to it.

The armor he was working on was still incomplete. Grey had never actually stuck around for long enough to finish fixing it. Which meant...

’If there was a last bastion of gnomes left anywhere, it would be right there.’

Grey grinned.

The Mechanical Jaw Spirit had been protecting the other node. Which meant that something else was likely protecting the last one.

Giyoto needed someone skilled enough to complete the armor, and what better choice than another gnome?

And if those gnomes were just as ignorant of their ancestry as Globb had been...

They would finish the armor, the Mech Soul would be used, and the last chance of saving the Empire would be ruined.

Grey knew he couldn’t let that happen. But he also couldn’t just leave Thi Lan here either even if that meant that he could have a shot at speed running the end of the arc.

If she died, then what would be the point?

But if he could take control of the country-sized mech the gnomes had left behind, he’d not only be able to expel all the Dark Kin, but he’d also be able to protect all of the rest of the contestants within this arc’s range at the same time as well.

Should he risk leaving Thi Lan behind?

Should he still go to their city like he originally planned?

’Wait a minute...’

"The treasure. Let me see the treasure." Grey suddenly said as he calmed down.

The high of putting everything together had gotten him carried away a bit. He had all the answers... but not the answers to how he was going to do anything about it.

But there was one potential light at the end of the tunnel.

"What treasure?" Thi Lan asked before her eyes lit up with realization. "Oh! Okay, sure."

None of them were in Grey’s head, and they couldn’t understand what was going on here at all. They could only guess it was big.

Hopefully this meant Grey had a solution.