Shovels In Spades

The next week passed by without incident at Fort Home.

Daz was thankful that Emma had taken up his offer and had begun earnestly spending a couple of hours a day lecturing the esper children on how to use their internal energy.

Even if it was theoretically impossible for them to do anything with their powers now since Rose was a one-of-a-kind, being the only known esper without a bloodline able to use her power, Daz still saw immense value in them learning how to wield the energy.

After all, he was fully intent on figuring out how to forcefully create a bloodline within them eventually.

On that topic, Daz had been using his own internal energy every day to strengthen his silver branching bloodline.

The branch had barely improved. Only a minute portion of the damage Daz had caused when he had initially attempted to sever it from the Hamilio bloodline had been repaired. It was a small modicum of progress, but it was better than nothing.

Daz still, unfortunately, had made no tangible advancements on the Ember front, however, neither did anyone else in Fort Home.

He didn't know if he should be happy or saddened by that. Something inside of him wanted for him to be the next one to gain an Ember since he was already destined to fight the Truthians as both the king and the sole person getting the Stars of Permanence currently. His reasonable side, however, knew that it would be for the best if as many people as possible could learn Embers.

Regardless, with nothing to show in regards to that subject, Daz had decided to split his time into 4 portions each day.

From 6AM to 12PM he did missions for the mercenary guild, from 12PM to 6PM he sat upon his throne and answered the complaints and suggestions of the people while also reforming and revising the laws of his kingdom.

From 6PM to 12AM Daz dedicated his time to helping his citizens complete their semester goals. An organisation had actually been formed for this sole purpose.

It was a branching organisation of the Guardian's Church - what the people had come to call the religion of worshipping Rimmy - and it operated out of the city's cathedral.

After he was done with that, between 12AM and 6AM Daz meditated and worked on strengthening his silver branching bloodline along with trying to gain an Ember.

Madison wasn't overly happy with this arrangement since it meant that Daz had no time to sleep with her like usual. To cope she spent most of her evenings helping Daz with the semester goal assistance.

They couldn't be lovey-dovey since that embarrassed her in public, but at least she got to spend some time with him.

She had said that if she could wake up early enough that she'd help him with his mercenary guild quests but she had yet to do that in the past week.

Daz didn't really mind since he knew she was busy trying her best to get an Ember when she wasn't with him, sleeping, or playing with the esper children or the students at the city's school.

"So it's done?" Daz asked Beta.

"Yes, Original. I did as you asked," the clone responded, having just returned from Fort Sky which was now nowhere to be seen.

Daz nodded. "Thanks. I'll see you later then."

"Yes, Original," Beta replied. He then spun on his heel and left to go work on the airship, presumably.

Daz turned to face the teleportation station and said to himself, "I wonder who showed up?"

Just last night he had announced that he would be leaving for Taiwan to unite the foreign state under his banner. He had invited anyone interested to help in his efforts to show up at the station tomorrow at noon, which would be right now.

With minimal progress in his attempts to earn an Ember and with over 70% of New Earth's citizens having completed their semester goals, Daz felt it would be wise to complete the side objective of his own; Bring any one foreign state or nation entirely under his rule.

Daz also had another reason for choosing to do this now. Taiwan was close to Korea, the home of his grandmother. Perhaps he could finally cash in on that promised alliance Rose had brokered for him? Only time would tell.

'About as many people as I expected. What is unexpected, however, is that Crusher and her misfits showed up. Also, Greg's new lieutenants are here. Dalton and Freddy were their names if I recall correctly. Everyone else is your average person with a somewhat combat-oriented class. I see a few evolved people too like the Four-armed Orc Bruce. Even Master Merit is present... Hmm...' Daz's mind was working in overdrive as he took centre stage at the heart of the teleportation station.

"Thank you all for coming. As I announced last night, we shall be working together with my ally Hsiao-han to gain full control of what was once known as Taiwan," Daz explained softly.

Crusher inclined her head and said, "Yeah, I heard. D'ya have any more specific deets though? Are we just goin' there to rip and tear ass or what? I don't see any eggheads here really besides a few sore thumbs. This is a mini-army. I assume thing ain't peachy in the east, huh?"

'Ah, what a refreshing attitude. I've missed her frankness,' Daz thought. It had been a while since the two of them had last spoken, after all.

He nodded. "Indeed. There are three factions vying for control over Taiwan, all of whom we will be facing with the intent to scare away or crush. We are the fourth faction, I suppose you could say."

"Well, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's crushin'," Crusher laughed and her misfits followed suit though Dorian just shook his head at the bad pun.

Dalton raised his voice and asked, "So who're the three other factions? Anyone important? I've seen how strong you are personally, mate. Why'dya need an army for this?"

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"To answer your first question, the Chinese government, a small collection of Taiwanese champions who call themselves Gǒng, and lastly, a branch of one of India's new kings' armies called Mukti," Daz answered.

"I'm most worried about the Indians, in truth. From what I currently know India is being ruled by a coalition of 8 kings. Mukti belongs to the most mysterious of these kings. That's one of the main reasons I asked for help in this endeavour. Needless to mention I can obviously take control of a place the size of Taiwan far easier with some reliable forces to count on," Daz explained.

"Okay, that makes sense to me, mate," Dalton replied with a nod.

"Your Majesty," Master Merit called, "Would you humour little old me with a response to a concern I have?"

"Go ahead," Daz replied.

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty. How many champions are there exactly amongst this 'Gǒng' group? Do we have intel on what gods they are champions of and whether or not we could recruit them?" Master Merit asked as he fiddled with his curly moustache.

Daz shook his head. "I don't know. My primary information source of foreign affairs - Rose, is stretched rather thin. I learned most of what I know regarding this situation directly from Hsiao-han herself. She doesn't have any interest past her personal island but she's been cooperating with my request for information without question."

"I remember her," Crusher said. "Champion of the God of War, right? Will she be helpin' us split skulls or what?"

Daz shook his head. "She will not. Not directly, at least. She has a role to play in this but it is not directly related to our own roles."

"Shame. Would have been nice to have another person at my level fightin' side-by-side. Oh well, we done briefin'? I'm eager to get to work," Crusher said with a big fat grin on her lips as she gripped the pommel of her hammer tightly.

"I suppose so assuming no one has any further questions," Daz said questioningly. No voices spoke up, so he nodded. "Give me a second to check everyone's stats and skills. I need to determine what role you will all specifically play in this... I suppose it's an attempted annexation, isn't it? If you don't consent to that, you know where the door is and thank you for your interest."

A few people grumbled about it but no one left.

All of their basic information was recorded as public knowledge by law to prevent more terroristic attacks like the one orchestrated by Timothy Marglow, so revealing their skills to the king didn't seem too unreasonable given what they were about to participate in.

With that done, Daz did a quick round of question-asking to make sure no one was a spy and that not a single one of them had nefarious intentions via his ability to detect lies.

"Good luck on your adventure, King Daz," the Archon in charge of the teleportation station said with a smile as he bowed his head.

Daz nodded back and stepped through the teleporter that led to Guishan Island, his army following closely behind him.

Immediately upon being greeted with the heat of the sealed volcano cap, Daz's eyes were also met with the sight of a quest screen.