Shovels In Spades

Daz had a difficult choice to make. Either bite the bullet and hope that ignoring the Truthian threat for a whole extra month would go unpunished so he could give a Star of Eternity to Survivor's Instinct.

Or, he had to choose a skill that could be critical against Mother Danielle and her followers to give the star. Then he'd make immediate plans for war.

'Reports say their influence is spreading quickly... They already have control over more land and citizens than I do... Can I really let them get closer and closer to my borders while I bide my time just to retain my instincts?' Daz asked himself.

'I've thought on this a lot and in reality, they haven't antagonised me. They haven't sent spies to my kingdom - at least as far as I'm aware. They have reportedly only attacked when first provoked which is what happened in New York thanks to Rose's USB that Emma used...' Daz rubbed his chin as he pondered over the matter.

'Perhaps I should try to open a dialogue of some sort with their leader, Mother Danielle? I could make it clear that I can resist their power to seal off the system and esper abilities. Perhaps I can negotiate for peace or if nothing else, buy more months to make my foundation more solid,' Daz considered.

'If Survivor's Instinct is off of the table for at least another month, then I should go with a skill that will keep me alive if I do set up a meeting and things go belly-up,' he thought before nodding slowly.

"I've made my choice," Daz said. "However, I need to discuss things with the system for a moment."

"Ah, buying a new skill, are we?" Sir Albert asked joyously.

"Yeah," Daz answered.

If the system wasn't getting in his way so much with this whole Truthian business then things would be easy.

Firstly, it had confirmed to him through a set of questions a couple of months ago that its Interference Immunity skill which it had forced upon him after his conversation with whoever or whatever was also inhabiting Lyle, was useless.

The system offered no information beyond the fact that it could and would not prevent the Truthians from stripping him bare of the boons it had granted him. That was not its purpose, supposedly.

Secondly, the system was very picky about what needed to be permanent and what didn't for other things to also gain Stars of Eternity.

Like how class skills didn't first need the class to be permanent but Rimmy needed dozens of Stars of Eternity before his current form would be wholly immune to any stripping effects.

Granted, Daz knew some of those issues were related to the ritual of the Muisca temple itself, but regardless, he wasn't pleased by it.

Lastly, the system was less than helpful in regards to fixing the three other broken shrines possessing Altars of Permanence.

He sighed lightly before thinking, 'System, does a skill exist that does what I want? You already know my requirements.'

It may not be actively helping him but he'd sure as hell use his store rank's privileges to filter out billions of skills to find at least one that was perfect for his needs.

He had 25 remaining open skill slots of his total 55 and he'd certainly be using one of them today.