The interior of the cafe was a stark contrast to the chaotic plaza outside. It was an oasis of profound, quiet elegance. The air was filled with the gentle, aromatic scent of brewing tea and polished wood. Not a single other customer was present. The only other occupant was a tall, elderly man with perfectly coiffed silver hair and a crisp, black butler's uniform. He moved with a silent, fluid grace that spoke of a lifetime of dedicated service.
This was no ordinary cafe owner.
As we entered, the old butler bowed deeply, not to me, but to Lunet. "Welcome back, Lady Lunet. I trust your promotional event was a success."
"It was a roaring triumph, Sebastian," she replied, her voice shedding its amplified, public persona and taking on a more relaxed, intimate tone. "As always."
Sebastian then produced a beautiful, flowing robe of silk, embroidered with intricate golden patterns. He draped it gracefully over Lunet's shoulders, covering her bright yellow bikini and transforming her from a stage celebrity back into a figure of regal, if casual, elegance.
I stood there, watching the seamless exchange, and the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place. This wasn't a random cafe she had chosen. This was her cafe. The empty tables, the waiting butler, the perfectly prepared robe—it was all a stage, meticulously set for my arrival. I hadn't been invited; I had been summoned. I couldn't help but feel a strange mix of admiration and deep unease. Lunet didn't just play the game; she owned the entire board.
Sebastian led us to a quiet table in the corner, served us two cups of fragrant, steaming Moonpetal tea, and then vanished as silently as he had appeared.
Now, there were no more crowds, no more distractions. Just me, Lunet, and the unspoken reason for this elaborate charade.
"Alright," I said, deciding to meet her game head-on. "The show is over. Why did you really want to see me, Lunet?"
She took a delicate sip of her tea, her golden eyes watching me over the rim of the cup. Her smile was gone, replaced by a cool, appraising look that was far more intimidating than her public persona.
"Because you, Kael," she said, her voice a soft, silken purr, "are a threat. A beautiful, fascinating, and utterly unpredictable threat. And threats, my dear darling, need to be managed. Watched closely." She set her cup down. "So, my first order of business is an offer. Quit the Builder Faction. Come work for me."
The offer was so blunt, so direct, that it took me a moment to process. "What?"
"Join my faction," she elaborated, as if offering me a second piece of cake. "The Merchants value talent, ambition, and power. You have all three in spades. We could make you very wealthy. Very powerful. You'd have more than just a dusty room and a pile of rocks to call your own."
I didn't even have to think about it. The answer was an immediate, instinctual truth. "No."
"No?" she asked, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
"No," I repeated, my voice firm. "Thank you for the offer, but I am a member of the Builder Faction. Krauss saved my life. I have a duty to him. To them. I'm not leaving."
Lunet stared at me for a long moment, and then she laughed. It was a genuine, delighted sound. "Good," she said, her smile returning. "I was hoping you'd say that. Loyalty is a rare and valuable commodity. It's good to know Krauss's investment wasn't misplaced." She leaned back, her demeanor shifting again. "And you are correct. That was not the real reason I brought you here."
She took another sip of tea. "The real reason is that your faction leader made a request."
My mind stalled. "A request? From Krauss?" That made no sense. If the Builder wanted to tell me something, he would just… tell me. Or send Lyra. Why would he go through the charismatic, manipulative Founder of another faction?
"What was the request?" I asked, my voice laced with suspicion.
"It concerns your weapon," she said, gesturing toward the twin maguns holstered at my hips. "He wants me to create a new one for you. The pistols you are currently using… they are, to put it politely, incredibly low-grade."
The words were a physical slap. "Low-grade?" I shot back, my hand instinctively going to the grip of one of my maguns. "These were a rare drop in Eternal SoulS! It took me months to get them! They're high-tier weapons!"
"They were high-tier in a game, darling," Lunet said, her voice gentle but firm. "This is not a game. The materials, the data-compression, the energy channeling… by the standards of this world, they are little more than well-crafted toys. They cannot hope to properly channel the power you now hold. To continue using them is to risk a catastrophic overload. Krauss knows this."
I looked down at my weapons, a bitter disappointment settling in my stomach. She was right, of course. My reality had been fundamentally rewritten. The rules of the old world no longer applied. What was once rare and powerful was now a relic, a child's toy in a world of gods and monsters.
Lunet seemed to read the conflict on my face. "That is why he came to me," she explained. "Personally." A flicker of pride entered her eyes. "Because for all my beauty, for all my charm, and for all my considerable power…" She leaned forward, a confident, self-assured smirk on her lips. "I am, without question, the single most skilled blacksmith in all of Out of Boundary City."
I stared at her, my surprise overriding my disappointment. The Founder of the Merchants. The celebrity. The politician. Was also a master craftsman? The layers to this woman were staggering. In that moment, the immense, unfathomable gap between a player like me and a true Founder of this world had never been clearer. They weren't just strong. They were masters of their reality.
"Now," she said, her tone all business. "Hand them over. I cannot begin the upgrade process until I have the base components to work with."
I hesitated for only a second before unholstering my maguns and placing them gently on the table between us. It felt like surrendering a part of myself. A part of my old life.
A final, nagging question surfaced. "One thing," I said. "Why all this? The stage show, the secret meeting? You were all there in the spire when I was sealed. You could have just asked me for them then."
Lunet's smile became a sly, secretive grin. "Because this was a private request from Krauss. He did not want the others to know."
"Why?"
"Because," she whispered, leaning in again, "Ashe believes your power should be contained and studied. Gezir believes it should be tested and broken. Krauss… Krauss believes it should be properly armed. He doesn't want our more… rigid… colleagues to know that he is actively upgrading the capabilities of his 'unique strategic asset.' It would create unnecessary paperwork. And we wouldn't want that, would we?"
The political maneuvering was on a level I couldn't even begin to grasp. I was a piece in a game being played by giants.
Lunet stood, the meeting apparently concluded. "The process will take a few weeks. I need to forge a new frame, one that can handle the raw, chaotic energy of the Founder's echo, and then integrate the core mechanics from your old weapons." She reached under the table and produced a simple, standard-issue energy pistol, the kind the city guard used. "You'll need something to carry in the meantime. It's not much, but it will suffice."
I took the spare magun, its weight feeling plain and unfamiliar in my hand.
"Now," Lunet said, her voice once again bright and dismissive. "I believe you have a city to inspect. Don't let me keep you from your very important work."
And just like that, I was dismissed. I stood, gave a short, confused nod, and walked out of the cafe, leaving my past in the hands of a goddess in a bikini. My world had been turned upside down, again, and it wasn't even lunchtime.