Chapter 272 - Reasons Exhausting

"Let's go."

Rynold responded solemnly, not so much as looking at Crimson when he said those two words. He then walked away from Crimson and headed outside, prompting Crimson to follow.

Of course, Crimson followed. He walked up the steps, stopping for a second, and looked at the hole Rynold made. Crimson didn't know what Rynold felt, whether the guy was angry or not. Whatever it was, though, Crimson knew it was better if he went along with Rynold.

As Rynold headed out of the building, with Crimson not far behind, his thoughts were slightly out of whack. Whatever Crimson told him seemed unbelievable at first. But, eventually, Rynold realized that, realistically, there were a plethora of cultures all around the world. It was nigh impossible for the world to have the same bland traditions and cultures. So much so that Rynold thought Crimson's culture was, if anything, quaint.

Although, then again, the whole thing seemed pretty damned ridiculous.

Nonetheless, Rynold walked down the empty street and sensed Crimson following him. He was glad that Crimson did so; otherwise, there wouldn't be a way for either of them to move forward with their friendship. And, to avoid any further complications, Rynold honestly didn't want that.

Rynold hurried up the steps of another building. It stood smaller than any other building in the area, and Rynold immediately went to its doors.

Pressing his hand on a console to the side, it took a second for the building to open its doors. Rynold walked in, expecting no hassle whatsoever, and immediately went towards a flat glass table to the side. He activated the table, lit it up in the process, and started to play with it. The table was nothing more than Rynold's access to the Mech God's archives.

With every swipe, tap, and press of his finger, Rynold continued to look through files in the archive. The glass screen reacted accordingly with each thing that Rynold did. He knew what he was looking for, but, boy, did it take a long time for him to figure out what exactly he needed. The files were in the millions, and Rynold didn't waste a single second. Rynold got so into looking through different files that he had become engrossed in the process.

And that was when Crimson came in.

"Uh..," Crimson stood by the door, unsure what to say to Rynold. Their previous encounter was far from what one would call pleasant. But, Crimson thought that wherever Rynold wanted him to go had something to do with what Crimson said.

"Get in and get comfortable," Rynold ordered without so much as looking up, "Help me look for something. We're going to be here for a while."

That said, Crimson went inside the building and sat beside Rynold, situating himself before another glass table. Crimson did the same thing and booted it up, flipping through the archive without looking at the files. Whatever Rynold needed help with, Crimson had no idea.

"What am I-"

"Look for something that would help the situation back in the lab," Rynold said, pointing at the keywords he had put in the search bar, "Think of things that might upgrade or, anything, really."

"Uh. Okay."

After that was over, the two proceeded to concentrate on their search. The opened and closed files all in a flurry, locating something that would best fit the situation. Rynold looked at one thing, and Crimson looked at another. The whole thing kept going until Crimson called for Rynold's attention.

"What is it?" Rynold lifted his hands up from the glass as he looked over to the file Crimson was looking at, "Something good?"

"I think so, yeah," Crimson nodded, sending the file to Rynold's terminal, "I'm not sure how you're going to make it work, though. But, if you do come up with a way to make it happen, it's going to be really cool."

"It's..."

Falling silent, Rynold initially wanted to reject Crimson's proposal. It seemed farfetched but not entirely impossible on paper. However, in order to make it work, Rynold would have to spend days, maybe weeks, to get it done. Which, in turn, was why he wanted to reject it.

However, Crimson was right. It would be cool if Rynold found a way to make it work. The time and effort he had to do aside, this idea would bring X to the next stage.

Or, well, idealistically, that was.

"Okay, let's give it a shot," said Rynold as he printed the file, "But I'm still gonna keep looking."

"Fair enough."

Crimson smiled as he said that before returning to the glass table. He flipped through the files again, with Rynold doing the same. The two of them got to work, trying to come up with something substantial. Although, now that Rynold got something that addressed X's situation, he broadened the scope. He looked through files that would better his personal arsenal. It was a tad selfish, Rynold admitted, but he was well aware of his limitations.

Besides, it wasn't like now was the first time either one of them looked through the archives.

Rynold and Crimson had both been here before. And at the same time too. The Mech God brought them here to do the same thing they were doing now, looking through files that would've brought them greater strength. Rynold looked for something on his own, of course, and Crimson had something recommended by the Mech God.

Time passed on quickly, with neither of them had noticed. It wasn't until Rynold had printed more than enough to fill his schedule for a whole year.

"We should probably get out of here," Rynold said as he moved to the printer to the side of the door and grabbed the blueprints that had stacked up high, "It's getting late."

"Do you really need that much?" Crimson asked as he turned to Rynold, noticing the stacked papers like the elephant in the room, "I'm sure even you wouldn't get all of that done."

"Oh, I know," Rynold nodded, putting the blueprints in his Inventory, "I don't plan on getting all of those things done. Besides, I'm sure we won't be staying here any longer anyway. That was just me having plans, just in case. You know, stuff that would be useful in the long run."

With that cleared up, Rynold was the first out the door. Crimson saw this, of course, and said something which caused Rynold to stop.

"Hey! Uh. About earlier..."

Rynold stopped in his steps, silence falling in the room. He had nothing more to say, honestly, but Crimson wanted to bring it up once more.

"You don't have to worry about anything," Rynold reassured but said it with a rather cold voice, "Whatever you want to do, it's entirely up to you. But, whatever happens to me, I assure you that I'm not the one you should defend. There are about a hundred people who dictate the lives of millions of other people. And, I guarantee you, I'm not one of them. Heh. I'll wait for you outside."

That said, Rynold headed out first, leaving Crimson alone in his thoughts. As soon as Rynold was out of earshot, he breathed a sigh of relief. Something about Crimson's fate bothered him, even though he had no right to say anything contradictory to what Crimson wanted to do.

Rynold knew that it wasn't easy. Whatever Crimson had on his shoulders, Rynold couldn't begin to understand it. The complexities of Crimson's fate dictated his personality and relationship with others. So much so that Crimson never had the chance to let his guard down. Even with strangers, he had to defend them, even at the risk of his life.

What kind of life was that?

For the most part, Crimson had to be ready to lay his life down. And, with Rynold's rather abrupt encounter with the mechanoid, Crimson had never realized that death would be lurking in every corner until that moment. Rynold could understand the fear of realizing that Crimson was meant to die. And, in the New World, death was more common than ever.

Thus, that was precisely the reason why Rynold couldn't stay mad at Crimson for abandoning him. While the latter had no obligation to help Rynold out, Crimson had other things to take care of. The devastating realization that dawned on him needed time to figure out. It wasn't easy for just anyone to face their own mortality like how Rynold approached his.

"Great, the bastard's back."

Rynold looked to the sky, breaking his line of thought as he sensed something flying overhead. A dense yet highly profound cloud of Mana flew over his head. Rynold immediately knew who gave off that aura, much to his displeasure.

Shaking his head in frustration, Rynold felt as though he would only end up exhausted having to deal with the Mech God. And, after the whole hullabaloo with the mechanoid, Rynold couldn't even begin to think how the god would react.

Nonetheless, thinking about it would be pointless as the Mech God descended before where Rynold stood.