Shovels In Spades

Daz was happily chatting with Mu as they stepped out of his flying car when Daz stopped talking midsentence.

He'd activated his Soul Vision out of habit to scan the local area for anomalies - a new habit of his - when he saw something... well, odd yet not unexpected.

"... I wanted to spar with you when we got back. It seems like I won't be able to. I'll see you later, Mu," Daz bade farewell as he stored the Ridomochi in its key then shoved said key back into his Industrial Item Box.

Mu followed Daz's line of sight and nodded after also activating the racial trait of a reaper. "Madison's soul... I do wonder how she knew you had returned, Brother. I shall leave arranging the demonstration of my Embers to you then. Remember that the sooner it is done, the sooner people can begin reflecting on the matter."

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll have a proper stage set up for you soon enough," Daz said before he hooked his right foot into Hamson's handle and then stood on the shovel's blade.

The next moment, he was soaring through the sky towards Madison.

Daz could barely make out Madison's features as he saw a pair of ethereal wings soar towards him.

"Daz!" Madison yelled with that deadpan voice of hers as she slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his back. "Missed, you."

Mr Barrier was sat atop her head of golden hair and the creature stealthily shuffled over to rest itself on Daz's head instead, blocking out his halo and upsetting Reika as a consequence.

'Stupid blue blob! He's an insolent fool but you, you're a... a... an ignorant fool!' Reika yelled.

Daz ignored her and Mr Barrier either couldn't see and hear her or it was also ignoring her. The incorporeal demon princess huffed and inflated her cheeks before floating to sit atop Mr Barrier, apparently seeing no other option.

"Did anything big happen while I was away?" Daz asked Madison.

She shook her head lightly. "Don't, think, so. Been, trying, essence, sharpness. Failure, mostly. Don't, understand. More, clues?"

"Tonight Mu will be showing off something similar to what I want you to learn. Maybe watching him will help you out. You still don't have an identification skill, do you?" Daz asked.

Madison tilted her head to the side and gave Daz a bit of a blank stare. "No. Why?"

"If you did, Mu could just let you see what it is I'm trying to get you to learn. That's how I learned about it. Lesser Identification is only 10,000 merit points. I'd suggest spending a skill slot to learn it. I started with Higher Identification which is, admittedly, far better, but it's a very useful skill to determine your opponent's strength and to find out what a weird object is regardless of its rank. It has more uses than that too- ...Why am I trying to sell this to you? You're gonna buy it anyway, aren't you?" Daz had noticed that look in Madison's eyes.

It was the look she gave him when she understood what he was suggesting and was more than willing to go along with whatever it was.

She smiled with her eyes. "Mmm, purchased. Can, identify, you?"

"Uh, sure. Go ahead," Daz answered.

He wasn't exactly expecting her to immediately want to look at his status, but if that's what she wanted, then what reason did he have to deny her? It wasn't like he had anything to hide from her.