Shovels In Spades

In the end, Dorian, Crusher, and Edward never came back that evening, so Daz simply ordered Crosius to inform him as soon as they did return.

The head advisor had a lot of work to do already with all of the requests and minor complaints he and his team of advisors were getting and organising, but he happily accepted Daz's command like it was no additional sweat off of his aged back.

Before they went to bed, Daz and Madison had, surprisingly, perhaps the most passionate sex since they had both lost their virginities to each other two years ago.

Something about the intimate discussion regarding Madison's esper power, then her unwavering enthusiasm when helping him choose which skills he'd upgrade and which ones weren't worth the points, on top of watching how earnestly she tried to paint despite her clear lack of skill in the subject, well, all of that lit a certain fire in Daz.

Madison couldn't help but get swept up by his emotions and accept all of his lust while giving him some of her own.

Of course, since there was nothing particularly pressing for him to do, Daz chose to sleep as he cuddled his precious girlfriend, and thus, day one of rest cycle two ended.

"Mmm..." Daz groggily opened his eyes and got up as he watched the rolling ankle-high fog cover his feet. "Back in this graveyard again, huh?"

He yawned slightly and looked around to see if he could find Cecil, but strangely enough, the bizarre old man with chronic back issues was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh." Daz held his chin in thought for a moment before he said, "Well, I'm here now. May as well practice my Grave of The Humans."

A few hours passed by as he used the skill over and over again. Suddenly, mid-skill use, Daz's instincts told him to immediately vacate the spot that he was standing in.

Quickly rolling to the side, Daz saw out of the corner of his eye a very ordinary-looking shovel passing through the location where his body was less than a second ago.

"Ah, damnit. I was sure I'd smack ya right on yer head," the familiar rough voice of Cecil complained.

Dusting off his shirt and boxers, Daz looked at the old man who was now holding his ordinary shovel over his shoulder casually. "Where were you the past few hours?" the reaper asked.

Cecil shrugged as he found a tombstone to sit on. "Busy. I'm yer tutor, sure, but I'm not ready to teach ya twenty-four-seven."

"Is that so?" Daz asked rhetorically as he leaned against a headstone and crossed his arms over his chest after returning Hamson to its brand mark. "Well? You saw me using the skill, right? Gonna give me permission to upgrade it anytime soon? I'm honestly getting sick of using it. I have other things to be dedicating my time to other than sleeping to do the same thing over and over again with no progress."

Cecil grinned, revealing his crooked and half-missing set of teeth. "Ah, but that's where yer wrong, Buddy. Ya have made progress. Ya've got my permission to upgrade the skill, but only once."

Daz wore a surprised expression before he nodded faintly. "Thanks." He had no idea how he'd improved, but at this point, he wasn't going to question it and risk having the senile old Gravedigger change his mind.

"Well, I'm still busy, so ya can leave now," Cecil said as he waved his hand dismissively, "Ah, right. The big man 'imself is in a bit of a pinch. Offer him some prayers when ya can, alright? It'll do ya some good."

Daz raised an eyebrow. "Prayers? I was never religious, but sure, I can do that."

With that said, he was ejected from the dreamscape.

Daz slowly opened his eyes and frowned slightly as he put his arms behind his head, immediately, Madison, taking advantage of the fact that he was now laying flat on his back, snuggled up to him while she slept.