Shovels In Spades

On their way back to Emma, just before arriving at New York City Daz had finally decided to use his Survivor's Instinct's Future Vision to see if he could discern exactly why the power didn't want him spending a majority of his enormous wealth.

He hadn't had a chance thus far. Initially, Daz had planned to do this on the way to New York from El Dorado but he had gotten side-tracked by the situation in Las Vegas.

In his mind, now was as good a time as any to see if he could shed any light on the peculiar situation.

Mu hardly minded the delay. In fact, he'd decided to go to sleep, taking advantage of the car's extreme comfort to pay a rare visit to his dreamscape.

The Death Reaper was a much larger offender than Daz when it came to skipping on sleep since he had so much to reflect over as opposed to simply learning from his dreamscape tutor, but he felt now would be as good as time as any what with how luxurious his seating was.

Daz closed his eyes and breathed out deeply, then in slowly. Repeating that several times, he cleared his mind and tried to think only of his merit points and when he would need to spend them in bulk.

What was the mysterious reason behind his instincts begging him to not spend them on improving himself vastly or contributing them all to his kingdom?

His consciousness faded as he felt every ounce of his internal energy swirl and pool into his eyes, though when he snapped them open, only the right one shined with a golden splendour.

"Hmm... 14 unauthorised [.....], 4 instances of contacting [.....] not of the [.....], 9 unauthorised alterations of a [.....], 4,003,211 unsanctioned cases of the [.....]... I could go on and on."

"... [.....]."

"The system and what it allows does not reflect [.....]. I'll have to add an instance of [.....] to your charges, [.....]."

"... [.....]?"

"Hmm? Oh. Rather quick on the uptake. Very good. Your total [.....] merit stars. That's actually a [.....] for a [.....]. Congratulations."

"Subsection-CA32 Article-73,210 of the [.....] taxations and [.....]."

"I beg your [.....]?"

"Need I do [.....]? [.....]. We get a [.....]. We also get a [.....]."

"That still [.....]. [.....], a down-[.....]. Otherwise, I must [.....]."

"15,121,620,011,556 merit stars [.....]? [.....]. [.....]."

The golden glow faded from Daz's right eye as sweat poured out of his body. He panted heavily while he grasped his throbbing head.

"That... That was way worse than last time..." Daz frowned deeply as he fought through the pain.

His body felt like it was on fire as his veins bulged under the surface of his skin. He'd suffered through extreme physical pain before and this wasn't the hardest thing to deal with right now, no, that belonged to the confusion Daz was experiencing.

"How far in the future was that? Why couldn't I see anything, only hear? That was definitely my voice at the very end... Is that how much money I need? That's insane!" Daz felt more confused than before he had used Future Vision.

The only logical conclusion he could come to was that he had far too little internal energy and - if it was relevant - far too little information about why his instincts warned him against spending his money.

If he truly needed over 15-trillion merit stars at some point in the distant future then it was no surprise that his instinct so dearly did not want him to waste his money when possible.

"The voice who recited that subsection and article stuff... Who was that? The voice felt familiar, but I can't place it..." Daz felt like he knew the voice's owner but he just couldn't put a face to it.

"Damn it. I need to practice this ability a lot more. I had no idea it could get fuzzy and even fail to show me a visual representation of what was happening... Still, while I didn't learn much about why I need the money, I did learn howmuch I needed," Daz muttered optimistically.

With a goal of a little over 15-trillion, if Daz did nothing and solely relied on his bank interest then it would take him years to accrue such a sum.

If it was only in merit points then he would have such a sum in less than a year, yes, but each merit star was equal in value to 100-million merit points.

Daz furrowed his brow as his body slowly generated a minute amount of internal energy - just enough to keep his brain from wanting to explode from the migraine it was enduring.

"I need more money. I need quests that give me money... When we return to New Earth it might be wise for me to focus on the Mercenary Guild seriously. I do still need to train to try to earn an Ember, but I can't ignore such a powerful instinctual feeling even if I want to." With his mind made up, Daz closed his eyes and willed himself to go to sleep.

He was far too exhausted. Talking to Emma and Master Sorola once more could wait until tomorrow.

Daz hadn't spoken to Cecil in a while so this was as good a time as any to do as Mu had done and visit his dreamscape.

Immediately upon waking up in the foggy graveyard Daz heard the sound of saliva being collected in the back of a throat.

"Ptui!" Low and behold, Cecil was behind him perched upon a tombstone as he sniffled his nose after a successful shot, his phlegm dribbling down the grave across the way.

"Didn't think ah'd ever see ye'r ugly mug again. It's been over a month. Just when ah though ma services were no longer need'd, 'ere ye are. So, come to train ma skill or are ya only makin' a pit stop? Makin' sure ma back hasn't fold'd in on itself? Well, Buddy?" Cecil asked as he lifted his straw hat to scratch his balding head.

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Daz was relieved to note his headache wasn't present in this space. He got up and nodded apologetically. "Sorry. I've been busy. Turns out, being a king isn't as easy as just letting everyone else do the work for you."

Cecil shrugged. "Ain't no need to butter me up with apologies."

"I know. Regardless, I do plan to visit more often. As much as I saw the Grave of the Mammals skill as being useless in the past, I'm now of the mindset that I was simply using it inefficiently," Daz replied.

"Good attitude to have, Buddy. Damned shame ol' Pala's in a right state. Ah can only use ma Grave of the Gods once per day. Have ye checked the skill's info in a while? Ever since he crippled 'imself upgradin' that shovel of yers it's been limited," Cecil said, not surprising Daz in the slightest.

Of course he knew. Why would he not check this considering the skill drew upon Pala's energy to work? Regardless, since it had come up in conversation, he pulled up the skill's information again.