'So... you're saying that I'll be treated... like a person?' a young girl of about 12-years of age asked the voice being projected into her head.

'Yes. I promise you, you'll be given every opportunity that other people without your condition do. You and I are in the exact same boat, Lindsey Blanchard. My brother still loves me, and despite my inability to walk or taste, I'm one of his most valuable citizens regardless of our blood relations,' the voice replied.

The girl held her hands to her chest and tears slowly seeped out of her closed eyes. 'And... All I have to do is renounce my current citizenship at the time that you told me to? I'll be teleported away? I can be healed? I don't need to worry about dying if I accidentally level up?'

'You can be cured of your blindness and deafness as well as your insatiable hunger, yes. Not easily, but I can promise that my brother will give it his all to cure you, Lindsey Blanchard. You'll immediately be given 100,000 merit points, which you can use to make your life easier.' The voice stopped talking for a moment - seemingly to collect her thoughts.

Before long, the voice continued, 'I'm confident Daz will have many uses for a power as valuable as yours. He has raised me, a cripple, ever since I was a baby, so despite being a powerful esper himself, I can, once again, promise that you won't be mistreated in Waterford.'

'A-And the levelling-up?' Lindsey asked again with a tremble in her thoughts.

'A non-issue. You will feel excruciating pain, yes, but we have some of the best healers on the planet that will keep your body from exploding. In a best-case scenario, my brother learns how to transfer internal energy, in a worst-case scenario, he can't, but we can still keep you alive throughout the process,' the voice calmly explained.

Lindsey felt one thing that she hadn't felt ever since she was thrown into this room and locked away in isolation, hope. 'I... I'll do it!'

'Great. Just make sure to do exactly what I told you to at the time I specified earlier, okay? I'm going to send a contract to you through the system to make sure you don't talk about this on accident. I know you rarely speak due to your condition, but it's just for your own safety. The contract will include the time in case you forget it. You can see system messages in your head, right?' the voice asked.

'Y-Yes, I can. One of my class skills lets me see the yellow screens,' Lindsey answered honestly.

'Yellow? That's new. Well, anyway, I'm sending the contract over now. I look forward to meeting you in person shortly. For now, goodbye, Lindsey Blanchard, and stay safe in the meantime,' the voice said with genuine care in her voice.

'Y-You too, Rose! I'm looking forward to it as well...' With that, the communication was severed from the voice's end.

Rose gently pushed open the lid of her VR capsule and stretched her torso.

"Ah, you're done? You were in there for a while," Vanessa said with a bit of worry in her tone as she got up from the chair she was on and then helped Rose out of the machine and into her bed.

Rose smiled faintly. "It's fine. I had to do this now instead of waiting for someone else to steal them before I could."

"Um... But is your body okay? You were in there for almost the entire day..." The young German girl was quite clearly still concerned about her friend.

Rose turned her head away in embarrassment. "I'm fine. The system can fix my body if I push myself too far."

"Okay... Did you tell Daz yet?" Vanessa asked.

Rose shook her head. "No. We should do that now, to be honest. He's busy having a dick-measuring contest with Crusher but we can ask him after he's done. Would you mind helping me go to them? I don't have the mental energy to move my chair on my own right now."

Vanessa nodded her head. "Okay. I don't mind doing that. Um, do you know where they are?"

Rose just grinned. "Look for the 20-foot-tall Titan. Should be a challenge to miss her."

In the now-larger training area of the barracks, Daz stepped to the side to avoid the car-sized hammerhead of Crusher's weapon.

Daz then flicked his finger, sending Hamson rippling through the air. The shovel - even without Reika's assistance - easily tore through Crusher's defenses, leaving a hole in her leg. A few more flicks later, and the Titan was littered with holes.

"Okay, I give up!" Crusher yelled. She then cancelled her Titan Form.

Sitting on the ground and rubbing her tattered body, the 8-foot-tall woman laughed. "Holy fuck, Uriel. When'd your shovel get so fuckin' sharp?"

Daz grinned. "During the auction."

"Well, there's no fuckin' way that I can beat you if you use that. Next time, can ya not? It's only fun if it's a close fight. I can acknowledge that you're a beast of a man, but c'mon, you barely even had to lift a finger to cut me up like a fuckin' fish," the Russian woman complained and smiled through every word.

Daz nodded. "Sure, but you never took off your weights. Do that next time, then we'll see if I can still dodge your hammer swings, okay?"

Crusher had a surprised look on her face. "Ah, right. I totally forgot about my weights... They're pretty much like skin to me, so yeah, next time, gimme a heads up about 'em, and I'll take 'em off."

"Will do." After saying that, the young reaper turned around and spotted his sister and Vanessa approaching them. "Rose? It's almost 9-PM. I'm surprised you're not lazing about playing games or exploring your new VR capsule."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Please, I never only play. I'm always working no matter what else I'm doing."

Daz chuckled softly. "Sure. Anyway, have you had dinner yet?"

Shaking her head, Rose replied, "Nope. I just finished something really important, so we came to tell you about it straight away. Look at me, aren't I just the perfect little sister?"

"Yes, you are," Daz replied as he ignored her sarcasm. "Anyway, wanna go have a late dinner at Bobby's? You're invited too, of course, Crusher, Vanessa."

The Titan shrugged. "Sure. The walk there'll be far enough for me to have finished healing."

Vanessa smiled shyly. "Um, if I'm not being a bother, then I'd love to."

"It's settled then," Daz said. He then wiped away his sweat and led the two girls and Crusher to Fort Skip's only restaurant.

"So, to summarise, I've contacted 34 espers who have no bloodline like me. Without exception, each one accepted to become your citizen with the promise that they'll be treated like real people and will be given help when they inevitably level up their powers," Rose explained as she munched down on some crunchy grilled carrots. "I need to contact about 30 more tomorrow morning too."

"I never considered those people... That's a very smart plan, Rose," Daz honestly praised.

Rose scoffed and replied, "I've wanted to do this since day one, but since the system cut off the phone lines and the internet, and since barely any people have access to the network my laptop's on, I had to wait. I had a few plans in mind, but you selfishly getting me that VR capsule worked perfectly in this case."

"Selfishly, huh?" Daz smiled warmly. "Anyway, you got all of their names, right? I'll offer them citizenship right now if you'd like."

Rose shook her head. "Yeah, I've got their names, but don't summon them until I tell you to. Like I said, there's still more for me to contact... and there's another reason not to do it now."

Crusher chomped down on her steak as she raised an eyebrow. "Who're these people, and why're they special? Also, why not now? If you're doing it tomorrow, that's a bit dumb. Ain't that, like, the worst possible time to summon a fuckton of folk?"

Rose nodded. "Good questions. To answer the first, they're crippled like me. Some are blind, some can't smell, some can't use their arms, some, again like me, can't walk, some have the mental capacity of a child despite being in their twenties, some have multiple disabilities, but each one has an esper power, making them invaluable."

"Like Daz's instincts?" Crusher, upon seeing the reaper in question nodding as confirmation, whistled. "Man, I kinda wish I had a power of my own like that one. Is that a system thing? Can I buy it?"

"No, it's a genetic thing, and it's different to evolutions. Earth has had espers for a long time," Daz calmly replied.

"Oh well. I can get stronger in a billion other ways, so no biggie," Crusher dismissively said as she got stuck into her third steak of the evening.

Rose took a sip of her soda then answered the Titan's second question. "I was given a clue from my patron god about the next cycle. It's supposed to be a far longer test than the last two were, so I want to know exactly what it is before Daz recruits our fellow espers."

The reaper nodded. "My instincts are telling me that I should wait as well, though, not very strongly, mind you."

Rose shrugged. "A small advantage is better than no advantage."

Everyone present agreed with that sentiment.

Before long, they all finished their meals and then went their separate ways.

Rose and Vanessa returned to the keep to go to sleep, while Crusher went back to her new squad of misfits. Daz, on the other hand, went to the bank.

The four-armed and blue-skinned man who was the personal employee for all of Daz's territories smiled upon seeing the reaper. "Good evening, Sir Archreaper. How can I assist you today?"

"I was thinking about buying an upgrade for Fort Skip's bank, but I don't have any base points. I was wondering if Big Bo could pull some strings for me?" Daz asked in a tone which implied he already knew the answer to his own question.

"Of course, Sir Archreaper. Manager Relox had anticipated that you may wish to lean on his influence, especially after your kindness in establishing a branch in the rare flying city controlled by Grid Cross. Manager Relox has already drafted up a contract for you. If you'd follow me, I'll take you to a private room where you can look over the contract in detail. A system version is also available should you be more comfortable with that." The employee was very professional with his words and they almost seemed rehearsed.

Regardless of if such deals were common or not, Daz nodded his head. "Lead the way."

Botund Relox's Offer What [Botund Relox] will give [Daz] 5 free upgrades to each of the branches of the [Midechhe Travelling Bank] in the host [Daz]'s territories. Both existing and future branches will be included in this offer. What [Daz] will give [Botund Relox] The daily interest rates of all stored merit points at the [Midechhe Travelling Bank] for all hosts under [Daz]'s protection shall decrease from [20%] to [15%].

Daz almost laughed out loud upon seeing this offer. "Go get Big Bo. I have some information that may force him to make this a more favourable deal for me."

"I can certainly contact him, but he may be busy, Sir Archreaper..." The four-armed employee clearly wasn't a fan of how casual Daz was being in regards to his boss.

The reaper smiled. "Just tell him that I stand to save far more money if I simply wait it out and use my merit points and base points on the upgrades, regardless of how many branches I upgrade."

Naturally, Daz would never give up his 20% interest rate, but on top of that, he'd received a new quest almost as soon as he was done reading the contract.

Quest Title: Outsmarting An Ape II Quest Type: Side Quest Difficulty: SS Quest Goal Ensure that you make the contract deal offered to you by the host [Botund Relox] favourable to you more so than to him. Optional Goal Convince the host [Botund Relox] to give you an interest-free loan of 5 merit stars. Quest Rewards [Item Upgrade Token (Only usable on the host's [Negotiator's Ring])]. 2,000,000 merit points. Optional Goal Reward A vital piece of advice in regards to the next testing cycle.

Again, the staff member frowned lightly. "I will certainly relay your message, Sir Archreaper, but I must warn you that Manager Relox may be upset should you disturb him during something important."

Daz shrugged. "That's fine."

For the chance at gaining a loan of five whole merit stars with 0% interest, Daz would happily risk offending the massive red-furred gorilla. That was a risk that any sane person would take in the reaper's opinion.