Chương 71: Quantis

Althea's blunt assessment didn't surprise Gray. Between the risk of the Legacy devouring his core and the certainty that higher powers would view him as a threat, he knew he was walking on a razor's edge.

"Maybe after I die, I'll wake up from this nightmare back in my bed on Earth." Gray forced out a dry chuckle. His attempt at humor was met with dead silence.

"Right," he muttered, clearing his throat.

"You mentioned Legacies earlier. Are they part of the System?"

"Quite the opposite, actually." Althea turned her full attention to him.

"When the Creator forged the Primordial Gods, he bestowed all of their abilities upon them from the beginning, without the System's influence. Inheriting a class from an original Primordial grants you access to one to three of those Legacy spells. You can consider them roughly on par with Signature abilities."

"How many Signature abilities does a standard class get?"

"Just one," Althea replied.

"But I wouldn't place Primordial classes at the absolute peak simply because they possess a few additional high-impact spells. Execution matters more than raw power, after all." Gray rubbed his jaw, mulling that over.

"I see. Was William's mentor a Primordial, then? The Primordial Vanguard?" Gozen clamped a hand over Gray's shoulder.

"You've got enough to worry about already. Don't go adding more." He turned to address the rest of the room.

"The boy and I have much to discuss, starting with that accursed elixir he drank. Althea needs some space to do her… whatever it is she does." He cast the healer a sour look. Before he could take a step, Althea seized the back of his robe.

"Oh, no. You're not escaping without paying." Gozen flicked a dismissive hand.

"Put it on my tab."

"Not this time. You owe me a hundred thousand Quants, and I want the balance settled today. This treatment will cost you another two hundred thousand, making that three hundred total."

"Two hundred thousand?!" Gozen barked.

"For patching up two kids?"

"Yep." Althea folded her arms.

"Fifty thousand for the treatment and another hundred and fifty for the rush fee. I had to cancel an expedition and forfeit my reservation on an Astral Rift." Gozen narrowed his eyes.

"Don't Rift reservations only cost ten thousand?"

"What's your point?" Althea asked without missing a beat. Gozen stared at her for a moment before his shoulders sagged.

"Fine. But I really can't pay you right now. I lost everything at The Ante."

"Again?" Ava shouted from across the room.

"I can't believe you! How many times have I told you to stop betting on those battles?" She stormed over and presented the back of her hand to the healer.

"Thanks for everything, Althea. I'll settle his account." Althea's stern expression vanished beneath a broad smile. She mirrored Ava's gesture, and a crisp digital chime rang through the clinic. At the sound of the transfer, Gozen lifted his head and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don't know what I'd do without you." Ava didn't dignify him with a response. She swept past, leaving a suffocating flare of aura in her wake. A chill crawled down Gray's spine. Beside him, Gozen stiffened.

"Is Gray cleared to leave?" Gozen asked, abruptly shifting his attention back to the Sage.

"Are you finished with his diagnostic?" Althea grunted.

"Pretty much. You should be careful about that sinister presence lingering inside your core, though." She jabbed a finger toward Gray's chest. Gray gave a slow nod.

"Your mana circuits would've taken much longer to regenerate on their own," Althea continued, shifting her attention to Nabi.

"Fortunately, your savior managed to reestablish the connections, so you can utilize your core immediately. Just don't overdo it." Nabi folded her arms and tipped her chin up with a proud smirk. Ava rested a hand on her disciple's shoulder.

"She learned from the best." She gave the room a quick nod.

"Time for us to leave. I need to polish up my dear disciple before she registers for the Kaiser Entrance Exams." Ava and Nabi exchanged a knowing glance. An instant later, their bodies liquefied into streams of blood that splashed across the ceramic tiles and seeped straight through them, leaving only a dark crimson pool behind.

"You're cleaning that, Gozen—" Althea began. Gozen already had a cordless vacuum in hand, sucking up the crimson remnants without a word. After running a polisher over the stained ceramic until the tile gleamed again, he shut off the machine and faced Gray.

"Alright, boy. Let's go."

"Wait. One thing." Gray glanced toward Althea, who was tightening the loosened straps of Hyun's straitjacket.

"Is Delilah here too?" Althea shook her head.

"It's just the two of you."

"She's been admitted to the church," Gozen interjected. Gray spun toward his master.

"The church? What's it like there? Is she in good hands?"

"I wouldn't call them good hands," Althea called from across the room.

"More like the only hands." Gray turned back to the Sage.

"The church has a stranglehold on the entire field of healing," Althea explained.

"If you possess a healer class, they force you into their covenant. Refusal isn't an option. Deny them, and they shatter your core, declaring your very existence a betrayal of their god's will." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Gray's brow furrowed.

"God? What kind of god do they worship?"

"An egomaniac named Mikael." Althea didn't bother looking up from Hyun's restraints. Gozen clicked his tongue in open disgust.

"Then why aren't you working for them?" Gray asked. Sharp amusement brightened Althea's expression.

"Let's just say they decided forcing me to kneel wasn't worth the price." She cleared her throat into her fist, brushing the subject aside.

"Anyway, the church will leave Delilah with a debt far greater than anything I'd charge. And there's an egregious waiting list for treatment right now, thanks to the flood of injured Earthborn pouring in from the Natural Selection." Gray winced.

"Is there any way you can treat her instead?" Althea arched an eyebrow.

"You don't have the money for my services, but I'd gladly extend you a loan." Her eyes swept over him in a slow, appraising once-over.

"My instincts tell me you'll be more than capable of paying it back someday." Then her expression sobered.

"Unfortunately, The Glory has already claimed her. Once someone is placed on their waiting list, they're forced into deep stasis." Althea folded her arms.

"Delilah will remain comatose until the church's healers are finally ready to see her." Gray's jaw tightened.

"How is that even morally acceptable?" Althea let out a dry, humorless laugh.

"If you think that's bad, wait until you see what the Gisaeng House—" A sharp clap from Gozen cut her off. He gestured toward the open doorway.

"Come on. Let's go repair your robe." Gray immediately straightened.

"Really?" Gozen nodded and waved him along as he stepped into the hall. Gray flashed Althea a grateful smile and gave her a quick wave goodbye. The Sage returned the gesture, her expression warm until Gray disappeared through the doorway. The instant he was gone, her cheerful facade crumbled. Without bothering to run another diagnostic scan on Hyun, she hurriedly unfastened the remaining restraints, peeled the heavy canvas straitjacket from his torso, and hurled it against the far wall.

Gray trailed behind Gozen through the clinic's narrow corridors. The rest of the building was every bit as sterile as the operating room, with white ceramic tiles stretching from floor to ceiling. Only four identical patient rooms branched off the main hallway, their doors spaced at even intervals. The corridor eventually opened into a barren lobby. There wasn't even a reception desk—only a pair of stiff chairs shoved near the exit.

Against all that lifeless white, a burst of color on the far wall immediately caught Gray's attention: a massive painting of Althea flexing both biceps, hung directly next to the entrance and dominating the otherwise empty room. Gray stared at it.

"Is that where the entire furnishing budget went?" Gozen followed his gaze and broke into a proud smirk.

"Actually, I had that custom-made for her. Althea doesn't bother decorating, so I thought it might bring some life to this sterile establishment." He folded his arms, admiring his contribution.

"For some strange reason, it's always ripped to shreds whenever I come to visit. So I've made it my personal duty to always replace it. Keep it hanging there like a sacred relic." He flicked his wrist. Ten identical paintings materialized from his ring and dropped onto the floor one after another, stacking themselves into a neat pile. Gray flinched at their sudden appearance, then forced out a dry chuckle.

"Did you want one for yourself?" Gozen asked, flashing him a playful grin.

"I think I'm good." Another flick of Gozen's wrist sent the entire stack vanishing back into his ring.

"So where exactly are we taking the robe to get fixed?" Gray asked as they approached the exit.

"The Forge, of course," Gozen replied.

"They have forged the most formidable army in the world, but as the name suggests, the guild also keeps some of the finest craftsmen under its wing. Though if we're talking about pure innovation, Quantis Corp takes the top spot."

"They handle technology and preserve the historical logs, right?"

"Correct. But they don't merely handle technology—they dictate its advancement. Quantis Corp is the sole reason this planet managed to keep pace with Earth's development, and why this city bears their name." Gozen paused at the glass doors and gestured beyond them.

"You know what? It'll be easier to show you. Come." He pushed the doors open. Gray stepped past Gozen, and the abrupt transition from the sterile white clinic to the sprawling city beyond struck him all at once. He had never expected this nation to be trapped in the Middle Ages—not with magic and superhuman abilities woven into everyday life. If anything, he'd prepared himself for impossible towers and bizarre architecture that openly defied physics. Instead, the city felt strangely familiar.

It looked like Manhattan—minus the abundance of scaffolding and potholes, of course. The resemblance stirred an old memory. His whole family had taken a trip to Times Square after Hyun was accepted into NYU, shortly before he moved into the dorms. Gray had been miserable the entire time, throwing such a relentless tantrum that his parents eventually cut the trip short—all because the ranked season was ending, and he'd been one win away from reaching Diamond. Gray stepped onto the pavement.

The roads appeared to be made from the same composite material as the surrounding high-rises, their smooth gray surfaces packed with traffic. Identical six-wheeled vehicles streamed past, each sporting a sleek, titanium-finished frame. Skyscrapers of glass and silver pierced the clouds overhead, dominated by a pair of twin towers connected near their peaks by an enclosed skybridge. The sidewalks bustled with pedestrians hurrying toward their next destination, mirroring the relentless pace of the Big Apple.

Gray studied the passing faces, half-expecting to spot elves, dwarves, or some other fantasy cliché among the crowd. Instead, he saw ordinary humans. Then he remembered what Tim had told him: the entire population descended from humans abducted from Earth generations ago. Gray glanced back at Althea's clinic. Unsurprisingly, the exterior matched the interior perfectly—a plain, single-story block of white with no signage beyond a crude red cross painted above the entrance.

He turned back toward the street, where a cluster of enormous LED displays flashed across the skyline. The largest, mounted along the side of a towering high-rise, played an endless commercial loop: a scrawny man gulped down an elixir resembling the one Ivan had given him, and within seconds, his thin frame ballooned into chunks of rippling muscle. Two equally massive digital billboards flanked it—one broadcasting a recruitment ad for the Forge Guard, the other cycling through neon promotions for local nightclubs.

Beneath the towering displays, smaller screens illuminated the street level with advertisements for food vendors, combat equipment, and minor guild recruiters, their storefronts occupying compact, single-story buildings lining the pavement between the larger structures.

"Disappointing, isn't it?" Gozen asked, glancing over his shoulder. Gray shrugged.

"The architecture is impressive. It easily rivals Earth's major cities—might even surpass them. I just expected something a little more… magical." Gozen tilted his head and surveyed the surrounding towers.

"Quantis Corp could have done far more with the aesthetics, but the people running that guild value efficiency above everything else." He pointed toward the roadway.

"The material used for the roads is called silverstone. It's compressed from silversand—the cheapest, most abundant, and most structurally resilient sediment available for mass construction. The glass used in the buildings comes from the same sand, and the Sand Oasis controls its distribution."

"But isn't Quantis Corp supposed to be incredibly advanced?" Gray asked as he fell into step beside him.

"Why build a conventional city when they have the technology to make something much better?"

"What, were you expecting warp gates on every corner and lasers strapped to the sides of buildings?" Gozen smirked and motioned for Gray to follow him deeper into the district.

"Something like that."

"If it's science-fiction gadgets you want, they exist," Gozen said.

"But Quantis Corp keeps its most advanced technology strictly under wraps. They're extremely selective about what they release to the public, supposedly for the sake of development." His expression tightened slightly.

"They maintain strict neutrality as a guild—with one notable exception: their direct alliance with the System."